The Flower and the Stag
by Tropical Fishy
Summary: It's a Lily/James fic. And I'm hopeless at writing romance, so, basically, there isn't any. Be a darling and review.
1. Beginnings (heck, such an original title...

Why, helloooooo

Why, helloooooo. 

This chapter is terrible. Seriously, it is. I've just looked over all my chapters and stories and stuff and I have to say that this doesn't deserve any reviews. If you're fussy go read some of my other work (later work, it's better J ) but I'm not going to redo this because I don't believe in going over stuff again and again. I would if I was going to publish it but I'm not, so there we go. It'd be like, um, me going and fixing up drawing I did in grade six. You improve, etc, etc. 

Yeah. 

****

The Flower and the Stag, part 1

Now she knew she was going crazy. First she fell through a barrier. Now she was eating radish flavoured jelly-beans. Or, of course, it could just be that everyone else was crazy…or maybe this was normal, after all, the magical world couldn't be exactly like the- what was it again? Muggle? Yeah, the magical world couldn't be exactly like the muggle world. There was just too many differences. 

Like…Well, the muggle world had no idiots that came and sat down next to you while you were trying to solve something very important. Or grin at you because you had jelly bean stuck between your teeth. 

'You a first year?' The first boy said, his smile widening. 

'Yeah. You?' She looked at him warily, but (if possibly) he smile grew bigger, and he muttered something she didn't understand to his friend.

'Well then, what's your name?' The second boy spoke up, but he was a bit more polite than his friend. Not that that was really saying much. 

'Lily Cooper. What's yours?'

'Sirius Black,' the first boy said, holding out his hand. 

'James Potter,' the other muttered, because he was busily trying to undo a knot in the parcel his owl had brought him. 

Lily was curious. 'Does your owl bring you everything?' 

'No. Just letters and stuff. Didn't you know that? I thought everyone did' 

She shrugged, turning a bit pink. 'I didn't know about magic.' She answered, not wanting to share this information with a stranger.

'Oh, well.' Said Sirius, still grinning idiotically. 'Heaps of people don't know. My dad said that there was a muggle born wizard who tried to get his toad to fly. But when it splattered he got real angry…' 

Lily felt slightly sick, and the other boy, James, rolled his eyes to the ceiling. 'Sirius?'

'Yeah?' Sirius was still giggling silently about the poor (now splattered) toad. 

'I really don't think we needed to know that.'

Sirius shrugged, and turned to Lily. 'Sorry. James here gets a bit sick when I talk about that kind of thing. Weak stomach. You two'd hit right off, discussing various ways that make you feel ill…I'll give a hand, if you want.' 

Lily stared at him for a moment, and then looked at James, who looked a bit green. 'Is he a bit insane? Like, on medication or something?'

'Nah.' James grinned. 'His mother just needed a break, so she sent him here.' 

'Hey!'

'Well it's true.' 

James Potter sat in the Gryffindor common room, talking to his new friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. It was only their second night at Hogwarts and already Sirius was in trouble.

'It was an accident,' Sirius had said with an innocent expression on his face. Professor McGonagall told him he'd make a pathetic actor and made him clean the classroom after the class was over.

'Without magic.' She warned him.

Sirius was a bit of a dope and used magic, of course. 

He showed James and Remus his detention slip proudly. 'I'm planning on breaking the world record,' he said with a grin on his face. 

Remus rolled his eyes. 'You'll get expelled.' 

'Nah. That's only if we do something really, really, really bad. We're just going to be really, really bad.' 

__

'Just?' James said, raising his eyebrows.

__

'We?' Remus said.

'Well you can't expect me to do it all myself, can you?'

James laughed. 'You're the weirdest person I've ever met.'

Sirius bowed. 

*****

A few weeks after, a notice was pinned up on the board in the common room. 

Sirius was taller than everyone else was, so he read the sign to James and Remus and Peter Pettigrew, a first year who was terribly shy. 

'We have flying lessons with the Ravenclaws, starting Thursday.' Sirius grinned. 'Goody. We'll show those brains who's the best at flying!'

'Oh, come on Sirius. They're not that smart. The sorting hat said they're wise and clever. I think. Anyway, they might be good at flying, we might not.' Remus said logically.

'You always look on the bright side of life, don't you buddy? Think happy!' 

Sirius bounced off to play chess with a second year. 

'D'you think he's always like this?' Remus asked, rubbing his head.

'Probably.' James said, and the two of them sat down to finish their astronomy homework that Sirius had entirely forgotten about. 

*****

The Gryffindor first years and the Ravenclaw first years hurried to the Quidditch pitch, where their first flying lesson would be held. Lots of them had flown before and were eager to show their friends what they could do, the muggle borns were looking forward to flying, and some were just plain terrified at the thought of taking their feet off the ground. 

James looked around at his classmates. On one side of him was Sirius, just about bursting from excitement, Peter was crying and Remus was trying to calm him down. Lily, the girl he'd met on the train, was on his other side. 

She turned around and looked at him, her face very white and excited. 

'Do brooms crash?' She asked nervously, biting her fingernails. 

'Only sometimes. You probably won't,' he reassured her, thought it didn't seem to do much good, as by the time they mounted their brooms Lily had a very small amount of fingernail left. 

James had flown lots of times at home and was easily the best Gryffindor there. Lily was good as well, which surprised James, seeing that she couldn't have flown before being muggle born. 

Sirius chased after all the people that could barely stay on their brooms, and Madame Hooch had to fly up and rescue poor Peter, who was hanging in the air just managing to hold onto his broomstick. The lesson ended early, thanks to Sirius. 

They landed- some crashed (Remus had never flown before and landed in a rose bush), Lily landed gracefully, as if she'd been doing it all her life. 

She followed James to the broom shed to put their brooms away.

'You're good at flying,' she said, as they placed the brooms on the shelves. 

'Yeah, I flew a lot at home. Have you flown before?' 

She laughed. 'No. I used to play with my sister, we pretended we were witches and pretended to fly around on brooms. We only had one though, so I always ended up with the mop.' She looked sad, but then smiled quickly. 

Lily changed the subject, suddenly realising she'd told this stranger all about the sister she had promised herself she'd forget about.

'Anyway…what's your favourite subject?'

He looked at her curiously, but decided not to press the matter. 

'Transfiguration.'

She nodded, then grinned. 'Mine's Charms. See you around.' 

Then she left, and James watched her go, looking thoughtful.

*****

James only ever saw Lily in their classes; they never hung around together. 

One day, Lily was in the library studying for a transfiguration test they had soon. She heard some people whispering to each other, and could tell they were arguing. She tried to ignore the sound of their hushed argument, until she heard the word 'girls'. She put her book down and listened, trying not to make a sound. 

'Don't be such a wimp!' Someone hissed.

'Sirius, he isn't a wimp!' someone else whispered angrily. 

'Then why won't he do it? We won't get caught! I've got it all planned, trust me.' 

'That's one of the problems, we don't.' A third voice said. 

'Gee, thanks. I thought I was your friend.' 

'You _are_. But don't drag Peter into this, we'll come, at least, _I_ will, but don't make people do things that don't want to.' 

'Okay, okay.' 

Do what? Lily wondered, and she tried to creep closer to hear what they were saying. She didn't notice a pile of books by her feet and tripped over them, falling down and banging into the bookshelf the boys were hiding behind. 

They raced out to find Lily sitting on the ground rubbing her knee and groaning.

'Owww. I think I've broken my leg.' 

The four boys stared at each other, their eyes wide with fear. What if she'd heard something? 

'What were doing?' Sirius asked sharply. 

'Oh, thanks.' Lily said through gritted teeth. 'I might have broken my leg, and all you care about 

is what I was doing.' 

'Well?'

'What do you think I was doing? I was trying to study and then you all started whispering like elephants. I was coming to tell you to shut up!' 

So it wasn't exactly the truth, but she didn't really care at that moment. All she could think about was the pain in her leg, and she didn't care what lies she told. 

'Oh,' Remus said. 'Do you want us to get a teacher?'

'No, actually I was planning on walking up to the infirmary, _of course I want you to get a teacher!' _She snapped crossly. 

Remus hurried away while the three Gryffindor boys left stood watching her. 

'What's eating you?' Sirius demanded. 'You were pretty mean to Remus.' 

'Sorry.' Lily said, not sounding sorry at all. 'It's just when you're in a lot of pain you don't really think straight, and when people ask you pathetic questions it's even worse.' 

'Look, we're sorry you hurt yourself, but you don't need to take it out on us.' James said to her.

Lily bit her lip to stop herself from swearing at him. 

Professor McGonagall came rushing into the library to find Lily Cooper yelling at James Potter, and him yelling back. 

'What is going on here?' She asked loudly, if she'd spoken in a normal voice no one would have been able to hear her.

'She fell down.' James said, pointing to Lily. 

Professor McGonagall bent down over Lily and examined her leg. 

'Yes, it's broken, I'm afraid' She conjured up a stretcher and walked out of the room with Lily floating at her side. 

'What a dragon.' Sirius said as the door started to close.

'I heard that!' Lily called back. 

*****

Lily lay in a hospital bed, listening to Madame Pomfrey hum to herself. Lily winced. She had a horrible voice. She looked around the bare room. There wasn't much to see. Lots of beds, a window that was curtained… There was a knock on the door. Madame Pomfrey rushed out to see who it was. 'You have some visitors, Miss Cooper.' 

Lily was surprised. Her friends had already been to see her, and so had Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. They had become friends when Lily was on an errand for Professor Dumbledore one time. 

James Potter and Sirius Black walked in. 

Sirius glared at her, and James was holding something in his hand. 

'We thought you might like this, since it was sort of our fault you fell,' James said. 

'Thanks,' Lily said as James handed her a home - made card. 

She opened it up and was squirted with water. 

'You jerks!' Lily shrieked. 

James and Sirius couldn't answer; they were laughing too hard. Madame Pomfrey came rushing out of her office to see what all the noise was about. 

'What is going on in here?' She asked sternly when she found Lily soaking wet and Sirius crying. 'What has happened?' She said to Lily, while trying to comfort Sirius. Then she noticed he was smiling; he had been laughing, not crying. 

'You two, out, come on. Lily needs rest.' She shooed them out of the room and found Lily a towel. 

*****

The first years were settled in very quickly and soon the castle was like a second home. One day, Lily was walking down a staircase after a transfiguration lesson (which she hated) and ran into James Potter. They hadn't seen each other since Lily had been hurt; she'd been avoiding them

'Oh look, it's green eyes.' Sirius said with a grin. 'How's your leg?'

'It's fine.' She walked past them.

A Slytherin in their herbology class pushed past her, and as she turned a corner she heard him yelling at James and Sirius. 

'I know it was you! Who else would do a thing like that to me?' 

'I can think of a few,' Sirius said between giggles. 

'I can get you expelled for this!' The Slytherin shrieked.

'How? You can't even prove that we did it.' James said with a smile playing across his lips. 

'I KNOW YOU DID IT! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!'

'Severus.' James said calmly. 'It could have been anyone. After all, all the Gryffindors hate you.'

'And who could blame them?' Sirius said, now that he had finally calmed down. 

Lily walked away with a frown on her face. She didn't like Severus, he was a show-off who thought he knew everything, but James and Sirius were troublemakers. She planned to get a bit of revenge on some certain people, and they would think it was Severus! She grinned to herself. She didn't usually play jokes on people, but James and Sirius deserved it. 

*****

James sat at lunch talking merrily with his friends. 

'You should have seen the look on his face! I thought he was going to explode right before our eyes.' He said with glee. 

Lily watched him from her seat and giggled. 

'What's so funny?' Her friend Holly asked. 

'Can I ask you something?' Lily said.

'What?' 

Lily leaned over and whispered something in Holly's ear. She laughed. 

'That'll work perfectly!' She said. 

'I know.' 

After lunch, the two girls ran straight to their dorm. They made sure no one else was in there and then closed the door.

Lily rummaged in her bag and pulled out a little bottle. 

'Quick, drink it! It only lasts for one hour.' 

They sipped the green liquid and turned invisible. 

'Where'd you get this stuff?' Holly asked in amazement. 

'I found the recipe for it in a potions book. Come on, we don't have much time.' Lily hissed. 

They ran down the girls' staircase and stopped next to the boys. Then they crept up the stairs; careful to stay near the edge so they wouldn't bump into anybody. 

The two of them sneaked up until they reached the door that said '1st year boys.' Lily pushed it open and peered inside. It was empty. James and Sirius must have been in the common room. 

'They found James's trunk and Sirius's and pulled them open. Lily got a big quill out of her pocket and dipped it in some bright purple ink that shone different colours in the light. It disappeared as soon as the ink touched the fabric of James' robes. 

'What are you writing?' Holly asked curiously. 

'You'll see,' Lily said with a grin, although you couldn't see it. 

Holly looked up at the clock on the wall next to one of the beds. 

'Lily! Our times almost up!'

Holly watched as the robes were folded by someone invisible and put neatly away.

They heard footsteps outside the door. 

'Gryffindor will beat Slytherin by miles, Peter, don't be such a worrywart.'

'I'm _not._' The smaller boy whined.

Lily and Holly watched from under the beds of two boys. To their horror, they could see each other. The spell had worn off. 

The boys sat around for what seemed like hours, and the only interesting thing they said was 

'Hey James, you the girl in our class, the one that fell over?' 

'You mean Lily? Yeah?' 

'I have an idea.' 

'What?'

'Well, I found this book on potions the other day, it's got a spell where you make it, give it to someone to drink, and their face turns green and their hair turns purple, and they grow extra arms!'

James laughed. 'But wouldn't that be painful?' 

'Nah. It just tingles a bit. We could offer it to her, say we really are sorry about the card thing, and she'll turn into a hideous monster in front of the entire school!'

'You're crazy. She'll know it was us, and so will all the teachers.'

'So? It'll be worth it just seeing the look on her face when she realises she had more then one arm, and instead of having red hair, it'll be purple!' 

'I don't know. She hasn't really done anything to us.' James said slowly. 'Why don't we just give it to Snape or something?' He added with a laugh. 'He'll kill us, but it will be just as funny.'

'I have another idea for Snape altogether. It will look better on Lily, her hair is longer, and it'll show up more. Pleeeeease, pleeeeease, pretty, pretty, pretty please? With a great big cherry on top?' 

James laughed at his friend's insanity. 'Okay, okay. If she doesn't take it, don't throw it away, give it to Snape.' 

'Right.' Sirius agreed. 'Now, I have to go and beat Thomas in that Chess Championship. I will prove that first years are just as good as third years. If not better!' 

He skipped out the room and James followed, shaking his head. Peter scrambled after them, trying to catch up. 

Lily crawled out from under a bed and helped Holly up. Their eyes were wide with panic.

'What are we going to do?' Holly asked, sounding hysterical. 

'You mean, after I kill Sirius Black and James Potter?' Lily asked her friend with her fists clenched.

'Forget about them for now. Kill them tomorrow. We need to get out of here! If we get caught, we'll probably be on detention for the rest of our lives, or we'll be expelled and I can't decide which ones worse.'

'Okay, don't panic, don't panic.' Lily said, it looked like she was trying to convince herself more than Holly. 

'Maybe they have something in here that will get us out.' Holly said logically, while Lily took deep breaths. 

'Like what?' 

'Brooms? We could fly out the window.' 

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Why would they have brooms? We aren't allowed them, remember?'

'Oh yeah.' 

'We could disguise ourselves! If we borrow their cloaks'- Lily started to say excitedly. 

'But you wrote that stuff on them.'

'Damn. Let's just look in their trunks to see if they've got something.'

'Kay.' 

Lily pulled open James trunk, while Holly looked through Sirius's stuff. 

'Nothing in here.' Holly said, disappointed. 

Lily's eyes widened. 

'Oh my God. Look!' 

She held up a piece of material that was silvery and seemed to be made out of cloth. 

'It's an invisibility cloak.' Holly breathed. 

The two girls grinned at each other. 

They pulled it on and looked into the mirror. It covered them up nicely, they were both fairly slim, and the cloak was enormous, so you couldn't see anything.

They tiptoed out of the room, trying not to step on each other toes. They walked silently into the common room, and then raced up to their own dorm, bumping into a fifth year on the way. After she had finished screaming (you wouldn't want to bump into something invisible), they slammed their door shut. 

'How are we going to get this back to them?' Lily asked when she had her breath back.

'Why don't we just keep it?' Holly said, laughing at the idea. 

'We can't. It isn't ours.'

'So? You heard what they're going to try to do to you. They deserve it.'

'Yeah, but we're getting them back anyway. We can't keep it.'

'All right, all right. You are such a goody two shoes sometimes.'

Lily poked her tongue out at her. 

*****

At breakfast the next day, Lily and Holly were eating their toast, watching the entrance to the hall. When James and Sirius walked in, they looked down, laughing into their plates. 

James went up to get his toast, but he couldn't figure out why everyone was laughing at him. Then a sixth year Hufflepuff kicked him in the shins. 

'Hey!' James shouted. 'What'd you do that for?' 

The Hufflepuff laughed. 'It says to on the back of your robes, didn't you know?'

James looked over to Severus who was laughing his head off. James stalked back to the 

Gryffindor table with a scowl on his face. The people walking past him gave his chair a kick. 

The owls flew in about halfway through the meal, and one was carrying a large parcel. It dropped it on James' table.

Someone had written on it DO NOT OPEN AT BREAKFAST. Sirius looked over, and the two of them left the table, with people kicking them on their way out. 

They raced back to their dorm, taking care to avoid Peeves. He would probably kick them until there was nothing left to kick. 

Sirius led the way up the stairs, ranting on about revenge, while James tried to hurry, but still had a pain in his shins. 

Sirius sat on his bed, and waiting expectantly for James to open it. He did so, and both boys gasped in surprise.

The invisibility cloak slid gracefully out onto the blankets. 

There was a note pinned to it, in a writing neither had seen before. 

__

Thanks very much for the cloak- it came in handy.

The two boys stared at the cloak for awhile and then looked up at each other.

'Severus.' They said in unison.

*****

Nothing interesting happened for weeks, although life at Hogwarts was never dull. James and Sirius spent much of their time in Library, much to Lily's amazement. Both boys were incredibly bright, but they didn't seem the sort to spend their weeks studying. 

One morning at breakfast Sirius approached her, holding at a glass. 

'Good morning Rosie!' He said cheerfully.

'It's Lily.' 

'Whatever. Anyway, I'm really sorry about that card we gave you. We just don't like people being mean to our friends. I thought you might like this.' He held out the glass with a big smile. 

'Oh, I couldn't possibly. You must have some too.' 

Sirius started to laugh, but straightened his face. 

'I insist. James has had some already, he loved it.'

Lily giggled, and was soon laughing uncontrollably. 

'What's so funny?' Sirius asked, trying hard not to laugh himself. 

'Where is he?' Lily said breathlessly. 

'Why do you want to know?' Sirius asked, now suspicious. 

'I've always wanted to see someone with more than two arms.' Lily was laughing too hard too realise that she'd just given away who had stolen the invisibility cloak and written on the back of James's robes 'kick me'.

Sirius giggled now, and walked out of the Great Hall, beckoning for her to follow him. 

He walked up to the infirmary where they found Madame Pomfrey telling off a very grumpy James Potter. 

'How did you do this to yourself?' She asked, tutting. 

'I drank something,' James mumbled. 

'Oh Jameseeee!' Sirius called.

'What do you want?' James said, hiding himself under the sheets. 

'You have a guest!' 

'Get lost Sirius. It's all your fault.' 

'I was just testing it to see if it would work. Don't you want to see who's here?'

'Not particularly.'

'Too bad.' 

He bounced over (Sirius bounced a lot) and pulled the covers off his best friends' head. 

Lily shrieked with laughter. James glared first at Sirius, then at her. 

'What is _she_ doing here?' He asked Sirius and under the green his face turned a reddish colour. 

'She heard about the potion, so she wouldn't take it when I tried to give it to her.' 

'How'd she know about it?' James said, tugging the sheets up over his head again. 

'Actually'- Sirius turned to Lily, who was still speechless with laughter. 'I'm not really sure.'

Lily stopped laughing.

'I don't think you really want to know.' She stifled a giggle. 'I've seen what I wanted to see, anyway, you look very –green- I mean, _busy _at the moment, so I'd better be off now.' 

She started to leave, but James grabbed her robes with one of his many arms. 

'Ow! Let go of me!' She yelled, and Madame Pomfrey came running.

'What is going on in here?' She demanded. 

James let go, and Lily tried to escape again, but this time Sirius pulled her back. 

'Oh no you don't.' Then he looked back up at Madame Pomfrey 'We just need to talk about something.' Madame Pomfrey stayed where she was. 'Alone.' He added. 

The nurse frowned. 'No yelling, no hitting, no loud noises'- 

'Would we do something like that?' Sirius asked, looking hurt.

'Yes.' She said flatly, and then retreated to her office. 

'How did you know about the potion?' James asked angrily.

'_I_ was the one you were going to turn into a, a'- she pointed to James and started laughing again.

'But how did you know? We only talked about it once, except when we were making it, and we made it in our dorm. And that's the only place we ever talked about it. You couldn't have made into our room without anyone noticing you.'

'Your invisibility cloak was useful.'

'But- we thought that was Snape.'

Lily sighed. 'As if that dope could come up with something as ingenious as some Gryffindors could.'

'We'll get you for this.' James glared at her with his dark brown eyes until he realised that he was still green and had multiple arms. He pulled the covers up and mumbled something. 

Lily stuck her head under the white cloth. 'What was that? I didn't quite catch it.' 

'You are the most annoying person I have ever met.' 

'How true. I really must be off now, unlike some, I'm still a normal colour.' 

Lily smiled charmingly at James and walked out the room. 

Madame Pomfrey came back into the room when she heard the doors close. 

'Is everything okay in here? No ones dead?' She asked anxiously.

'Not yet.' James said through gritted teeth. 

*****

Lily avoided James for the rest of the year, as the last time she'd seen him, he had looked positively murderous. And green. It still gave her the giggles every time she thought of it, which was often. 

In a flying lesson towards the end of school, they had played a practice Quidditch game. Lily and James were both quite good, and ended up playing on opposite teams. Lily was a Beater and James the Seeker. 

Lily took every opportunity she had to whack a bludger at James' head. He caught the snitch before the other team, and their team won. 

They walked back into the castle together.

'Jerk.'

'Loser.'

'Moron.'

'Idiot.'

'What is your problem?'

'What is _my_ problem? What's yours?' 

'I don't have one, thankyou very much.' 

'Fine.'

'Fine'

__

'Fine.'

'Fine.'

'Goodbye.'

'Goodbye.'

They glared at each other and walked off.

Slytherin won the house cup. Lily was leaving the Great Hall after the feast and found Severus Snape gloating to James and Sirius about how great Slytherin house was. Lily watched for a moment until Holly dragged her away. 

*****

James and Sirius sat with Remus and Peter on the ride home. Peter was whining about everything from leaving Hogwarts to not looking forward to going home, to hating Transfiguration, to loving herbology. 

James was listening patiently, trying to stay awake. Sirius was ignoring Peter completely. He was writing a list. 

James finally managed to shut Peter up, and looked over Sirius's shoulder.

'What's that?' 

'A list.'

'Oh _really_?' James said sarcastically. 'What's on it?' 

'What we're going to do next year.'

Remus woke up from a nap suddenly. He was often very tired. 

'Ooh. What are we going to do?' 

Sirius grinned and took a deep breath.

'Dungbombs in the Great Hall, dungbombs in the common rooms (besides ours), Howlers to Snape, Howlers to Professor McGonagall, -'

'_What_?' The other three boys said with shock.

'She'll never know it was us. Howler to Lily, more Howlers to Snape, we're going to find some secret passages and we are going use plenty of illegal spells!'

'You're full of it.' Remus said.

'There was, like, one good idea in that entire bunch.'

'I thought that they were all good ideas, but I'm open to suggestions.'

'The secret passages.'

'Yeah, I liked that one too. But what about howlers to Lily? I thought you'd love that one.'

'She'd know it was us. I think we're the only people in the whole school that don't like her.'

'Nah. Snape hates her as well. She beat him in a test.'

'Oh. That explains it.'

Hogwarts express pulled into Kings Cross Station later that day, and James found himself going through the barrier with Lily. 

'Good riddance.' She said sweetly.

'I hope you have a terribly holiday,' he shot back, and was surprised to see that this seemed to hurt her a bit. Her face hardened quickly though.

'Don't worry, I will.'

She walked off towards what James supposed were her parents, and a sour faced girl who glared at Lily when she approached them. 

He walked off towards his own parents, and went home with them.

Petunia sneered at her younger sister as she walked up to them.

'Who was that, your boyfriend?' 

'No. But if I wanted one, I'm sure I could get one, unlike _some_ people.' Lily answered coldly.

'Girls, girls.' Their mother said, shaking her head. 'Be nice.' 

Then she hugged her little girl, and they drove home in the opposite direction to the Potters.

Did you like it? Huh? You can tell me if you want…hint, hint. 

Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, supreme author of the universe. So don't sue me. And I'm sorry the ending's bad. I really am. It is just…is. I'm bad at endings. 


	2. Of detentions and...more detentions

Next part. This has been written for awhile, so (I'm not really sure) some things might be a bit out of date. 

Thanks Narri-Someone the first-whatever-you-like-to-be-called for being so nice to me, Josie for pointing things that don't make sense out (even if you can't spell) and all the other fan fic authors who stop me from going insane. More than I already am, anyway. 

****

The Flower and the Stag, Part 2

Lily had a terrible holiday, just as she had said she would. Petunia tortured her every moment, except when Lily threatened to use her magic. That got rid of her, but only for a few days. Holly came over in the holidays, and Petunia shut up for awhile. It was one thing to be mean to one witch, but what could happen with two?

When Holly left, Lily was lonely again for awhile. Her parents tried to cheer her up, but did not succeed, since Petunia followed Lily everywhere. She knew it was stupid to let her older sisters comments get to her, but sometimes she wondered if they were true. 

On September the first, Lily was out of bed before the sun had risen and was packed before everyone else was even out of bed. 

She made it to the station 5 minutes before Hogwarts express was due to leave, thanks to Petunia being a royal pain. 

Lily dragged her stuff onto a carriage and searched for a compartment that was empty, or had people she knew. Holly was in one, but it was already full. Lily walked to the last compartment and opened the door.

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew all stared at her. 

Lily groaned inwardly. They were almost as bad as Petunia. Almost. 

Sirius broke the silence. 'What's wrong with you?' 

'Huh?' 

'I said, what's wrong with you? You looked like you sucked on a lemon.'

__

Oops, she thought. 

'Could I sit here? There aren't any other free compartments.'

'Don't you have any friends?' Sirius said with a grin.

'Yes, I do.'

'Where are they?'

'They've got the measles,' Lily snapped and turned to walk out.

'Wait.'

Lily turned around again, and blinked to get rid of the tears from her eyes.

'You can sit here.' James Potter said, and gave her a little smile.

'What?!' Sirius looked over at James in disbelief.

James glared at Sirius for a moment, and then Lily sat down quietly.

Lily was silent for most of the trip, until Sirius asked her a question.

'How were your holidays?'

'Awful.' She mumbled.

'Oh. Sorry.' And no one said anything else until they got to Hogwarts. 

*****

James sat at the try-outs for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, blowing on his hands. He was freezing. He had no idea why it was so cold, usually at this time of year the weather was warm. 

'James Potter.' Madame Hooch called, and he walked onto the pitch.

*****

Lily was walking to one of her classes when she heard a screech.

'I made it, I made it!' She peeked around the corner to find James Potter choking Sirius. (He was hugging him). 

James saw her from over Sirius's shoulder and raced over to her. 

Her danced with her for a moment and then skipped of, no doubt to terrorise other unfortunate students. 

Sirius sighed and said to Lily. 'I always wondered when he'd crack. It's been coming for years.' He bent down to whisper something in her ear 'By the way, the two of you make a very cute couple.' 

Lily turned bright red, and Sirius grinned. 'See ya later!' 

*****

They had a new Charms teacher who let them choose their own seats. Lily sat in the middle row near Holly and James and his friends were behind them. 

Lily heard giggles, and swung around. 

James was red in the face from silent laughter, and Sirius wasn't even bothering to hold it in. 

'What's so funny?'

'Nothing.' He hiccupped and the rest of the class giggled.

'Um, Lily?' Holly asked timidly.

'What?'

'Your plait.' She pointed to Lily's plait, which hung down her back. She usually tied it up like this; it made life much easier. 

Lily looked down at it, and saw the end half was purple. She looked up at James and then at his hands. They had purple ink all over them.

'I am going to kill you.' She whispered. 

'Why?' 

'Oh, I_ wonder_. I'm going to have purple hair for the rest of the day!' 

'You might start a trend.' 

'I'm _so_ sure.' 

She turned back to her charms work. 

After she'd spilt the rest of the ink all over James's test. 

*****

The two of them sat in Professor McGonagalls office, arguing with each other. 

Their teacher walked in with a frown on her face.

'I'm very disappointed in the two of you. This is not acceptable behaviour.'

'She started it.' James muttered.

'I did not! You dipped my plait in the ink!' She retorted. 

'Yeah, well you tipped ink all over my-'

'Enough!' McGonagall snapped. 'You both have detention this Friday night.' She handed them a detention slip each. 'Off you go. And I don't want to hear that you have been fighting again this term.'

They got up and reached the door at the same time. James elbowed Lily and she elbowed him back. 

'I said, _enough_!' 

'I hate you.' 

'We're not supposed to fight.' James said in voice that sounded just like Professor McGonagalls. 

Lily laughed. 'I'm not fighting. I was telling you a fact.' 

'Okay, I'll tell you a fact. You look like some one's set your head on fire.'

'You look like you haven't brushed your hair for years.'

'I can't agree more, Cooper.' An oily voice said sarcastically.

James and Lily turned around to see Severus Snape smiling and glaring at them at the same time. It wasn't a pleasant sight. 

'You can't agree more with what, Snape?' Lily asked politely, but her eyes were bright. She didn't like Severus any more than she liked James.

'That James is a low-down creep, stuck-up jerk, moron, show-off who thinks he knows everything there is to know about everything.'

'Did you rehearse that Snape?' James asked dryly. 

'No, it just came naturally.'

'I never said he was any of those things.' Lily spoke up. The two boys stared at her.

'I mean, sure, he's a bit of a show-off, but he has lots of good qualities too.'

'Such as?'

'Um… He's good at Transfiguration!'

'Whoop dee doo da.' Snape said.

'He's nice, kind, would never hurt any ones feelings- besides mine- he good at Quidditch, is nice to his friends, and I'm sure there are many more, but since we hate each other, I can't name them.'

'You sound more like you like him more than you hate him.' Snape sneered.

'I just happen to hate you more than I hate him. So there.'

Lily poked her tongue out them both and walked off.

The boys stared at each other for a moment or two, exchanged a few comments that were equally charming in their own disgusting way and then walked off. 

*****

James, Sirius and Remus lay in bed trying to sleep. Peter was snoring. 

Sirius said he sounded like a hippo with a head cold and Remus said he sounded like a lion with sinusitis. James said that he probably just had an ordinary human cold, and that they should stop being mean. 

So the three of them lay in bed trying to block out the sounds of Peter snores. 

Eventually, Sirius gave up and started talking. He couldn't be bothered whispering; he didn't care if he woke Peter up. 

'Hey James, did you see the way Lily looked at you?'

'With hatred?'

'Well, besides that.'

'Disgust?'

'NO. I think she likes you!'

James coughed. 'Sirius, you are delirious.' 

He walked out of the room saying over his shoulder, 'I can't sleep. I'm going to see if there's anything to eat.'

When he'd left the room, Remus whispered to Sirius, 'What are you talking about? The only way Lily looked at him, besides with hatred and disgust was possibly with loathing. She doesn't like James in the least bit, and if she does she's doing a pretty good job at hiding it.' He took a deep breath to say even more, but Sirius beat him to it. 

'Remus, Remus, Remus.'

'Don't Remus, Remus, Remus me.'

'My _dear_ Remus.' (Remus rolled his eyes). 'I don't think Lily likes him. But don't they make a cute couple? I told that to Lily and she turned as red as her hair.' He giggled. 'It was hilarious.'

'You are such an idiot sometimes.' 

'It's one of my many talents.' Sirius said, bowing.

'It's just about your only talent.' Remus muttered.

He was about to say something else, when he noticed that there was more than one person in the room snoring. 

Sirius had fallen asleep.

*****

The next morning, the Gryffindors had Charms. James was so tired from not being able to sleep; he was falling asleep during the lesson. Professor Flitwick had finally found a stool so that he could see over his desk, and he noticed that they actually weren't getting any work done. 

He put them in their seats. He saw James and Sirius were never going to get anything done while they were sitting next to each other, so James was now stuck next to Lily.

They were sitting as far apart as they possibly could; Lily was half under, half not under the table. Every time James fell asleep, Lily hit him over the head with her books, and he woke up with a shout. 

The fifth time this happened, James hit her back and Lily fell off her chair with a crash. 

The rest of the class turned around and Professor Flitwick rushed to their table. 

'What's going on here?' The Professor squeaked.

'He/she started it!' They said at the same time. 

*****

The two of them sat glaring at each other in Professor McGonagalls study for the second time. 

'I thought I told you that this was not to happen again.'

They looked at the ground. 

'This is your last chance. I promise you if I get word of anything like this again, you _will_ be in big trouble.'

'Okay.' They mumbled.

*****

That Friday night Lily sat in the common room waiting for James to come down. She was reading a book about animagi, and was halfway through a very interesting chapter when someone put their hands over her eyes. 

'Guess who?' Someone said in a sing song voice. 

'Get lost Potter.'

Lily struggled away from his grip and started towards the portrait. 

James followed her, and he was very quiet for once. They were to meet Filch, the caretaker in the front hall, but he wasn't there yet. 

James started to talk.

'D'you think it'd be hard to become animagi?'

'Yes. Someone got stuck as a tree once, I wouldn't want to risk it.'

James looked thoughtful. 'You'd make a very nice tree.'

'Thanks, I think. Would you become an animagi if you could?'

'Nah. Too difficult.'

'Oh.'

Filch turned up then and said they had to clean the trophy room.

'Without magic.' He said with a sly grin.

As they tiptoed up the stairs to the trophy room, James whispered to Lily 

'He always makes us do this. He needs to come up with some new punishments. The trophy's are so clean you can see your own reflection in them. Soon we'll be rubbing away the brass and there won't be any trophies left to polish.' 

Lily giggled and was told off by Filch for being to loud. 

It took ages to finish cleaning the trophies, they had to polish each one at least three times it seemed, before they were perfectly clean.

James tipped polish down the back of Lily's robes when Filch was out the room, and she retaliated by pouring some into his hair. The caretaker came back in to find the two of them covered in polish. They stank. 

'Out, out! You're disgraceful! Professor McGonagall will be hearing about this!'

James raced Lily to the Gryffindor tower, leaving footprints behind them. 

*****

Lily had never seen their Transfiguration teacher so angry before. 

'This is NOT good enough! You were there for a punishment, _not_ to have fun!' Professor McGonagall was breathing deeply through her nose. 

'I will be writing to your parents about this.'

Lily tried not to laugh. She could just imagine Petunia's face when an owl through in through the window. 

'Miss Cooper!' McGonagall snapped. 'This is not a laughing matter.'

James looked very pale. He obviously didn't like the idea of the letter. 

'Please Professor, I'll be good for the rest of the year-' she snorted 'please, please don't write to parents, they'll kill me!' James pleaded with her, but she shook her head. 

'It's your own fault Potter. I don't want to see either of you for the rest of the term.' 

They left the room silently and as soon as they were out of earshot, James groaned

'I'm dead.' 

'You look fine to me.'

'Ha ha. My dad is going to be sooo mad, I promised I wouldn't get into any more trouble this year.'

'Well, he can't do anything to you here.'

James sighed. 'He can. Anyway, why aren't you upset?'

'I don't want my parents to be mad at me,' Lily admitted. 'But I thought about Petunia's face when the owl arrives. When Holly came over in the holidays she just about fainted. She was as white as Nearly-headless-Nick.'

They had reached the common room, and left to go to bed.

*****

At breakfast the next morning James received a letter in a bright red envelope.

'Uh oh.' Sirius said, and hid under the table.

Lily was watching curiously. Remus had his hands over his ears for some reason, and Peter looked extremely pale. 

James was busy stuffing napkins into his ears. 

Then he tore the envelope open gently and flung it onto the table. He ducked as a mans voice bellowed out. It echoed through the hall and everyone turned around to see who had received the howler. Lily covered her ears as well; it was giving her a headache. 

'I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU'D BE GOOD THIS YEAR! IF I GET WORD OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS ONCE MORE YOUNG MAN, I'LL COME STRAIGHT UP TO THAT SCHOOL OF YOURS AND DRAG YOU HOME BY THE EARS! STOP PICKING ON THE POOR GIRL, OR I'M SURE SHE'LL GET YOU BACK IF I DON'T.'

The voice (which Lily supposed was James' dad) went on to say that he's surprised that James wasn't expelled. 

After about five minutes, the letter burst into flames and everyone was silent for a moment. James reappeared a moment later, along with Sirius, who was rubbing his head. 

James was bright red and tried to look busy picking bits of the napkin out of his ears. 

Lily walked out of the hall past his chair and whispered in his ear 

'Yeah. Stop picking on the poor girl.' 

She laughed and ran out before James could strangle her. 

***** 

The teachers seemed very nervous and apprehensive after Christmas. People said it was because of the dark wizard who seemed to be gaining power in London. 

His name was Voldemort, but people were so afraid of him they called him 'You-Know-Who.'

The kids weren't very affected by this wizard, Dumbledore was an even more powerful wizard and they knew that they were safe. 

One night, Lily had a nightmare. She didn't usually even dream, so this was unusual for her. 

There was a baby, and it started out happy, the baby lying in bed playing with a stuffed toy, and a woman singing him to sleep.

There was a crash on the door. 

Then a mans voice. He called out her name. 

__

'Lily! Take Harry and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-.' 

She heard a cackle of high pitched laughter and then woke up, sweating. 

She sat in bed terrified for a moment, and then looked at the clock. It was three in the morning. 

She decided to go down into the common room to read for awhile. Lily tiptoed down the stairs, she didn't usually but she was still frightened. The dream had seemed so real. The laughter was ringing in her ears, no matter what she did she couldn't get rid of the sound. 

She was just about to enter the common room when she heard voices. 

'Sirius, this isn't going to work.'

'Come _on_.'

'We're gonna get caught, I just know we are.' 

'_James_. Quit it. Since when were you a chicken?' 

'Shut up.'

'So are you coming or going?'

'Okay, okay. I'm coming.' 

Lily tied to sneak into the common room, but tripped and fell in instead. 

There were two pairs of feet by her head.

She looked up and met Sirius's eyes. They were flashing angrily.

'Is this your job or something? To spy on us?' 

'No.'

'So why were you here this time, eh? Coming down for a midnight stroll in the common room?'

'I could ask you the same thing.' 

Sirius glared at her and then looked at James. 'You coming or not?' He said grumpily and moved towards the portrait. 

James nodded but didn't follow. 'Why _are_ you down here?' He asked curiously. 

'Just because,' she whispered.

James shrugged.

'See ya.' 

Then he ran out to find Sirius who had given up on him. 

Lily sat down in an armchair and fell asleep. 

*****

'Lily. _Lily._ Hey Lily. Wake _up_.' 

Someone was shaking her shoulder.

'What time is it?' She groaned rubbing her eyes. When she opened them, she found herself looking at James Potter. 

'It's lunch time.' He said with a grin. 

'WHAT?' Lily jumped up in alarm.

'I'm only kidding, but you just missed breakfast. I was looking for my homework and then I found you. But now I can't find my homework.' 

Lily felt a lump underneath her. She pulled it out from under her, and held up a crumpled piece of parchment. 

'Umm. James?' he turned around. 'I don't suppose this is your homework?' 

'Yep.' He took it and smoothed it out. 'Now at least it looks like I've spent time on it.' He grinned again at her and then climbed out the portrait hole.

She started after him and suddenly realised she was still in her pyjamas. _I'm going to kill him,_ she thought crossly, and then ran upstairs to get changed.

*****

That day at lunch, Lily sat by herself. Her friends were off somewhere, probably watching the Ravenclaw 'hunks' at Quidditch practice. 

She stirred her soup absently and gazed at the ceiling, where birds were flying around. 

'It'll get cold,' a voice said. She turned and almost bumped into James, he was so close to her.

'Are you following me?' she asked, exasperated. 

'Nope. But you're good at charms and I'm not, so I have decided that you are going to help me study for the test.' 

Lily snorted. 'As if. _I_ have to study, you have to study by yourself, pea brain.' 

'Pleeeeeease? I'll do anything.'

'No.' Lily shook her head and started to get up, but James grabbed her arm.

'Come on Lily, everyone else is busy.' He looked up at her and pouted. 

'_Fine_. But only if you'll stop bugging me.'

'Yay!' James pulled out his books and they spent the rest of their lunchtime trying to figure out how to charm hair. 

*****

'I'm _not_ going out like this!' Lily wailed. 

James giggled. 'It suits you. You should have green hair more often.' 

'If you don't shut up I'll turn your hair purple, your face green and give you more arms.'

'Ha ha.' 

Sirius came bounding into the common room then. 'James, I've been looking everywhere for-'

He stopped dead at the sight of Lily's bright green hair. 

'You have green hair.' He said in shock.

'Really?' Lily said sarcastically. 'I hadn't noticed.'

Sirius grinned and nodded. 'Suits you.' 

'Shut up.' She snapped, and was about to walk out when she groaned and turned back.

'Change it _back_,' she whined.

'Nope.' James grinned.

'Fine, that's _it_.' She pulled out her wand and muttered something under her breath.

James looked down at himself; he looked exactly the same. He started to say something, but hiccupped. 

'What was that? I didn't quite catch it.'

He opened his mouth, but hiccupped again. 

'If you'll change my hair back, I'll let you talk again.' Lily said. 

Sirius pulled a face a Lily. 

'What?'

'How can he change your hair back when he can't talk?' 

'Oh yeah.' Sirius rolled his eyes as Lily undid the spell on James. 

*****

'How did this happen?' Professor McGonagall snapped.

'It was an accident.' Lily said, biting her nails. 

Madame Pomfrey walked briskly into McGonagalls office, and frowned at Lily when she saw her.

'How is Mr Potter, Poppy?' The professor asked.

'He'll be fine. No thanks to Miss Cooper, I'm sure.' Madame Pomfrey left just as quickly as she had entered. 

McGonagall sighed. 'So what happened exactly?' 

Lily just stared at the floor. 

'I'm waiting.' 

'Well, I told James I'd help him study for the Charms test today, and he turned my hair green. He wouldn't turn it back, so I put a spell on him.'

'What spell?' The professor interrupted.

'Oh, just that one where they can only hiccup. Anyway, he changed me back when I took the spell off, and then I accidentally turned him into a beetle, I didn't mean to, I _swear_. The spell just went wrong.'

McGonagall nodded 'You and Mr Potter will both have detentions. Off you go.' 

Lily raced out of the room. Their next lesson didn't start for another half-hour and she'd missed most of Potions anyway. So she decided to visit James. 

He was sitting in bed with a scowl on his face, which was still a brownish colour. Madame Pomfrey looked up as she entered.

'Miss Cooper, I'm afraid I can't let you come in. My patient is already in a very delicate condition.'

'No, let her come in.' James said. 

Lily was surprised, but came in.

'I just have one thing to say to you.' He muttered.

'Oh? And what's that?'

'When I get out of here, you had better watch out.'

'I will. But you don't want the rest of the school knowing you were a cockroach for a day, do you?' 

James glared at her as she left the room. 

***** 

For the rest of the year, James and Lily were enemies. They had the same friends, which was a bit difficult, but their friends soon became accustomed to listening to them argue. 

Remus did his best to make them friends, while Sirius egged them on shamelessly. 

He kept a little book, which had a tally in it. Whenever they had an argument Sirius would put a little tick under the name of who won. 

Lily had twelve, James had ten and Lily wouldn't let him forget it. 

They hadn't hurt each other physically, but Madame Pomfrey got to know them both very well, as James was forever casting spells he didn't know how to undo and vice-versa. 

Holly and Sirius had a bet on; Sirius thought that Lily would get to fifty first, Holly thought she'd get sick of it.

Sirius won 5 galleons. 

On the last day of school, they all sat together in the same compartment, Holly threatened to tape Lily's mouth shut if she didn't be quiet and Sirius glued James's lips together.

Holly ran off to her parents and Sirius went to his. Lily looked around, but she couldn't see her mum or dad anywhere. Then she saw them talking to another couple, the man had black hair, the woman blonde. And the man looked suspiciously like someone she knew. 

Her worst fears were confirmed when James leapt into his fathers' arms. 

She walked slowly over, hugged her parents and then glared at James. 

'Hello sweetie! Do you know James Potter? He's in the same year as you.'

'Unfortunately.' She muttered, looking at the ground. 

James's mother smiled at her. 'You must be Lily. Are you in James's class?' 

'Uh huh.' Then she turned to her parents. 'Can we go now?' 

Her father frowned. 'Lily, don't be rude.'

Mr Potter laughed. 'Off you go. We might see you another time, then?' 

'Of course.' They all shook hands, and then left. 

On the way home, James's father asked him about Lily. 'So, the two of you friends?' 

'No.'

'Don't tell me she was girl you were harassing.' He said with a sigh.

'She was the girl who was harassing _me._' 

'Well, I hope you've worked out your differences. Your mother and I are going away for awhile, you'll be staying with the Coopers for a week or two.'

James had been drifting to sleep, but now he was wide awake.

'WHAT? I am not staying for a week with Lily Cooper. It's bad enough I have to see her at school.'

'Then you can play with her sister.' 

'Great.' James moaned. 

Everything is J.K Rowling's, except the things that are mine. You know who they are. And, since you're feeling so kind (well I hope you are) you'll review, won't you? Yeah, I thought so. But if you want to be mean, then don't bother. Got it? 

Thanks people who reviewed the last chapter, and the people who reviewed _Lily Angel_. It's sort of like a sequel to this. But not really, I mean, you can read one without the other. 

TTFN 

Starlight. Me. The person who wrote this. Just review, okay? I live for reviews. Really I do. 


	3. Five million different things, all occur...

****

The Flower and the Stag

Part 3

James lay in bed, planning out what he was going to do that day. 

Then he remembered, and groaned, pulling his pillow over his head. 

'James!' His mother called. 'Time to get up!'

He hid under the covers.

He heard her push the door open and come in, humming under her breath. 

__

It all right for her_ to hum._ James thought miserably. She_ doesn't have to spend a week with Lily Cooper. _

His mum pulled the covers off and grinned cheerfully at him. He glared at her and slid out of bed. 

While his parents packed, all they talked about was their holiday. After about half an hour they remembered he was still there. 

'Looking forward to seeing your friend then, James?' 

'Nope.' 

His dad raised his eyebrows. 'You two _still_ haven't worked out your differences?' 

'Nope.' 

'I don't want to here that you've been being a nuisance at the Coopers.' His mother said sternly.

James stayed silent. 

*****

They drove into London and ate breakfast in a small café and then drove on to a little village just out of the city. 

They stopped in front of a fairly large house that was a bit run down, but James though '_at least I'll have _something_ to do here.' _And while painting an old house wasn't exactly thrilling he'd rather do that than spend time playing with _dolls_, or whatever girls did. 

His parents gave him a hug, kissed him and drove off, leaving him with strangers. And Lily. The thought of Lily wasn't exactly comforting either. 

The Coopers smiled at him. 'The girls are still asleep, I'm afraid. Would you like something to eat?'

'No thanks.' He answered. 

'Well, the televisions in there,' Mr Cooper pointed to a large room coming off the hallway. 

'Television?' James repeated blankly.

'Oh, yes dear, Lily said he mightn't know what some thing are.' Mrs Cooper whispered to her husband.

So Mr Cooper showed James what a television was, and after he'd explained it, he left James to watch the morning cartoons. 

He was in the middle of watching a program about a dinosaur, when he heard someone running down the hallway. 

A tall, thin girl appeared at the door, squealed and ran back up the stairs. 

He heard her screeching to someone else somewhere in the house and crept up the stairs to listen.

'What is that person doing in _my_ house? _Do you HEAR what I'm telling you? Get him OUT!'_

'Sorry, no can do.' He heard Lily's familiar voice mumble. 

Her sister stomped out of the room, screamed when she saw James and raced down the stairs again. 

The next moment, Lily was at the doorway. 

James stared at her for a moment. Her hair was in a mess, she was wearing her pyjamas and her eyes looked puffy. 

'What are you staring at?' She muttered, and pushed past him. 

James went back downstairs. 

Lily came out awhile later, with her hair tied back and she was wearing clothes. He'd never seen her in jeans before, only black. It made her look different. 

She poked her tongue out and went into the kitchen.

For the rest of the day, Lily avoided him, Petunia avoided him, and their parents tried to be nice.

The _next_ day, Petunia (for some demented reason) was following him around like a puppy follows its mother.

James caught Lily off guard and asked her why.

'She likes you.' She said with an evil grin on her face. 

'She hates magic. Remember?' He replied crossly. He was sick of the older girl treating him like a king. 

'Ah, but now she knows that we can't use it yet.'

'Then why does she still hate _you_?' 

Lily's face clouded over. 'Because she just does, alright?' She got up from the chair she'd been sitting in and went to her room.

James groaned. One witch was bad enough. And now her _sister_ liked him_. _

Yuck, yuck, yuck. Why couldn't it be Lily? James suddenly realised what he'd just thought. _Why would you want _Lily_ to like you?_ He argued with himself. 

__

She's the witch who turned you into a cockroach! Remember? He pushed the thought of liking Lily out of his head and thought of ways to hate her instead. 

It was much easier. 

The next two weeks were hell. James and Lily snapped at each other, tried to fight (Petunia kept interfering) and the rest of the time just ignored each other completely. 

Mr and Mrs Cooper did their best, however, Lily had taken to wearing earplugs whenever they started lecturing on friendship. 

On the last day, James and Lily were playing wizard chess. Lily was hopeless at it, and Petunia had run away terrified when she saw that the pieces could talk and move. 

James couldn't pay attention. He kept seeing the bright green eyes in front of him instead of his chess pieces. 

__

You hate her. He told himself severely. _You are enemies. You can't like Lily. Just forget this, okay? _But he still couldn't concentrate. 

'Stop it!' He said out loud by accident. 

Lily looked up in surprise. 'What? Stop what?' 

James felt his face flush, and Lily looked curiously at him. 'Nothing.' He muttered. 

'You look like a tomato,' Lily commented. 

'You look like some one's tipped flour over your face.' He snapped crossly.

She glared at him, tipped the chess pieces back in the box (with them screaming at her loudly) and stomped up to her room in huff.

*****

Lily's parents dropped them off at Kings Cross Station the next morning. James and Lily weren't speaking to each other because James had hidden a cockroach under Lily's sheets. She'd woken in the middle of the night shrieking, only to find James standing in the doorway grinning when she switched on the light. 

She gave him a blood nose.

They sat silently in their compartment, waiting for their friends to arrive. Sirius bounced in first, a huge grin on his face. It grew even wider when he saw them together. 

'Friends again?' He asked happily. 

'As if.' They two said in unison. 

'Were we _ever_ friends?' Lily added. 

'Oh well. It's way more fun this way.' He noticed James's nose was bigger than usual. 'What happened to your nose?' He asked curiously. 

'Nothing,' James muttered, while Lily giggled. He glared at her, and Sirius watched them in confusion. 

'James Potter. Did _she_ punch you?' Sirius was obviously delighted.

'Maybe.'

Sirius tutted. 'Lily, Lily, Lily.'

'What?' Lily said irritably.

'You do know that James will hate you for this?'

'He already _did_, Sirius.'

'Ah, but-'

'What is your point?' Lily snapped.

'My, my, we _are_ in a grumpy mood today, aren't we?'

Lily got up and grabbed her trunk, pulling it down off the shelf and just missing James by inches. 

'I am _sick_ of this.' She muttered and dragged it out the door.

'What did you _do_ to her?' Sirius asked in amazement.

'Spent two weeks at her house.'

'Ooh. When's the wedding?' 

James glared at his friend. Sirius must have decided the look in James's eyes was dangerous, because he didn't push the subject any further.

They all sat together at the Sorting, the boys on one side of the table, Lily and Holly on the other. 

Remus, Sirius and Holly were discussing- actually, _trying_ to discuss the new subjects for that year, but James and Lily were arguing with each other at the same time. 

The others ignored them, until some pumpkin soup went flying over the table.

They stopped talking and watched as James wiped the soup of his face. Lily was hysterical. 

Some first years were sitting near them and all of them turned to watch the older kids with interest.

James had finished cleaning himself by then, but Lily was uncontrollable. So when James flung some pie at her she was completely helpless, and just sat and laughed. Holly tried to calm her friend down, she was having a coughing fit; some pie had gotten into her throat. 

After about 5 minutes, Lily was just sitting and breathing deeply, only breaking out into giggles occasionally.

When she had complete control of herself, she loaded her spoon up with peas and some apple pie, aimed for James and got him smack on the nose.

He yelled loudly; his nose was still aching for the day before and burning apple pie was not helpful.

Professor McGonagall appeared behind Lily in a trice and surveyed the scene before her. She sighed heavily and said in a tired voice

'Potter, Cooper, with me. Now.'

Lily got up and followed the Professor, James left a moment after and found them waiting for him in the hall. 

'What am I going to do with the two of you?' 

'You could expel him.' Lily said helpfully.

Professor McGonagall frowned at her and stood silently for awhile.

'I can't stop you hating each other, but why don't you just leave it at insulting each other?'

They nodded and left to go back into feast.

Professor McGonagall stood in the hallway for a moment.

__

What am I doing? Giving students permission to insult each other? Minerva, you've gone crazy. She shook her head and walked briskly back into the Great Hall.

*****

The Gryffindor third years first lesson the next day was potions. 

The Professor spent a long time explaining a project to them, and giving them the ingredients they needed. Then she dropped a bombshell. 

'I'll be putting you into groups of two, I don't want any arguments, all right?'

She went around the dungeon pairing everyone up. 

'Cooper, go with Potter,' she said briskly.

'WHAT?" Lily screeched. 

The entire class turned around and Lily felt herself go pink. 'Um, sorry, but- but can't you change it? Pleeeease?'

She frowned at Lily. 'I said I didn't want any arguments. Go and sit with Mr Potter.'

Lily walked slowly over to James table and slumped into a chair. They sat silently for awhile, until the professor said 

'Get to work.' They didn't move and she walked over to their table. 

'_Now_.' 

Lily picked up a shrivelfig and started to chop it up. James grabbed it from her and hissed 'you don't do it like that.' He took it from her and Lily pulled a face. 

'Fine, you do it if you're so smart.' 

James ignored her and continued chopping. 

*****

'Come on Lily, _come_.' Holly begged her friend.

'No way. I am _not_ going out in the freezing cold to watch Quidditch.'

'It'll be fun, better than just sitting around.'

Lily shook her head. 'All you do is giggle at that Ravenclaw seeker. I'd come to a game, but not to Ravenclaw _training_. Okay?'

'Fine, fine.' Holly went of with the other Gryffindor third years, talking about the Quidditch teams. At least, the _boys_ on the Quidditch teams.

Lily watched them go and sighed. Some one behind her echoed her sigh and she spun around.

James grinned at her. He was leaning over the back of the armchair she was on, grinning like a Cheshire cat. She narrowed her eyes. 

'What do you want, Potter?' 

'Nothing.'

'Good. I'll see you tomorrow. Unfortunately.' She muttered under her breath. 

James watched her go, sighed, pulled a book of the shelf and started reading. 

*****

__

'Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don't sing, Papa's gonna you a diamond ring.'

'No, please, not Harry! Have mercy, please, take me, kill me instead!'

*****

Lily woke up. She could hear Holly snoring and Laura, another Gryffindor girl, talking in her sleep.

She lay back down and tried to sleep, but it was impossible. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard that lullaby. Her mother used to sing it to her. 

Finally, she gave up and went down to the common room. It was deserted, so she sat down in an armchair that was in front of the fire. Lily stared at the glowing coals for awhile and then dozed off to sleep. 

*****

Sirius and James crept in the portrait hole, covered by James's cloak. They went over to a large chair and sat in it, took the cloak off, and opened the book they had grabbed from the library. 

****

~Animagi~

The title said in gold, bold letters. They turned the pages gently, as it was very, very old. It was a very complicated potion. They were reading the difficulties involved when they heard a sound by the fire. Sirius slammed it shut and stuffed it under the chair, while James went over to the fire. 

He saw a small figure curled up on the cushions and he went over to wake them up, but when he saw who it was, he nearly turned back. 

Sirius joined him, but instead of standing and staring at her, he walked over and started to shake her. 

'No, don't kill Harry, _please_, have mercy, please, don't kill my baby!' Lily whispered.

Lily woke up with a start and the two boys stared at her in shock. 

She rubbed her eyes and realised who it was. 'What did I just say?'

'You said 'Don't kill Harry, please, have mercy, please, don't kill my baby.'

'Oh.'

'So. Who's Harry?'

'Don't know.' Lily said quietly.

Sirius and James watched her for a moment. She seemed to be looking for something that wasn't there. 

'You okay?' Sirius asked.

Lily shook herself out of a trance. 'Yeah. I'm fine.'

Then she got up and disappeared into the girl's dormitories. 

Sirius looked at James in surprise. 'You'll have to watch that one.' He said with a knowing expression on his face.

'What?' 

'I think she's a few screws loose. You know, missing the top deck.' 

James looked at Sirius blankly. 

'_Nobody's home.' _Sirius said loudly, leaning in closer to James. 

'I'm tired. See you in the morning.' James started towards the boy's staircase.

'But- we haven't finished-'

'Lets do it tomorrow, okay?' 

'Fine.' Sirius followed his friend up the staircase, pulling faces behind his back. _What was wrong with him? He was almost as nutty as Lily. Almost, anyway. _

The next day Lily acted as if nothing had happened, so James and Sirius pretended nothing _had_ happened. She sat at the opposite end of the table to them at breakfast; usually they sat together; Lily liked to comment on James's hair. 

Holly had stayed up late the night before studying for a big test they had and didn't notice anything different, she was having enough trouble keeping her eyes open. 

James, Sirius and Remus were sitting in a huddle with their heads close together discussing something. Peter Pettigrew was trying in vain to join the conversation, finally giving up and sulking over his cornflakes. 

Lily gazed around the great hall, although nothing very interesting ever happened at breakfast. The Slytherins were arguing with the Ravenclaws over something in Quidditch; nothing important, not to her anyway. 

The Hufflepuffs sat quietly eating their breakfast, talking to their friends in little groups. Lily yawned, stood up and was about to leave when a loud yell filled up the Great Hall. It was coming from the Slytherin table. 

Lily could see them all, most with their ears covered. One boy was sitting very quietly, his face very red.

Severus Snape. 

YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE ENTIRE FAMILY! HOW DARE YOU BEFRIEND GRYFFINDORS! THEY ARE NICE! YOU ARE FILTHY! (at this stage, half of the Slytherins left the room in disgust, glaring at Severus.) Lily thought that the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. 

NOW, I INSIST YOU BE AS ROTTEN AS BEFORE, NO MR NICE GUY! Whoever sent the howler broke into giggles suddenly and Lily knew who it was. James. She glanced over at him, but he'd left the room. 

Lily followed, and the sounds of Severus being yelled at drifted behind her into the corridor, where she found James and his friends laughing hysterically. 

'You're dead meat, you know.' She said calmly. 'McGonagall's probably hunting you down already.'

'But you'll protect us, won't you?' Sirius mocked.

Lily grinned. 'I'm looking forward to seeing McGonagall dissect you with her own bare hands.' 

Sirius pulled a face, and laughed. 'For a girl, you come up with some pretty funny things. Too bad you _are_ a girl.' 

Lily glared at him. 'And I hope she kills you first.'

'I won't be killing _anyone_, Miss Cooper.' A voice said coldly behind her. 

Lily turned around slowly. Professor McGonagalls face was stony, her eyes were blazing with anger. Lily stepped back, bumped into James, who knocked over Remus. The three of them lay in a heap. 

'Get up.' The professor snapped. They got up. 

' I want an explanation. Now.'

All three of them started talking at the same time. 

'We sort of sent this Howler to Snape-'

'And I guess now we're in trouble-'

'But it was just a joke-'

Professor McGonagall turned to Lily. 'And you, Miss Cooper?'

'What _about _me?'

McGonagalls eyes narrowed. 'What was your role in this prank?'

'I didn't have one.'

To the Professors surprise, the boys didn't object. She had been expecting them to say that Cooper was ringleader of their little gang, just to get Lily into trouble. But they hadn't.

'Then why are you out here?' 

'Just… Talking.' Lily answered. If they got her into trouble…

'_Just_ talking?' The professor raised her eyebrows. She was in a very bad mood already, _someone_ (and she suspected their initials were J.P.) had been sending little cards to everyone in the school. They said 

__

Go to the window

Tell professor what you see

If she gets mad

Don't say it was me

So she'd had at least 100 students come up and tell what they could see outside of the window. It was driving her crazy. And it was still only breakfast.

She was definitely not in the mood to have someone (especially not a little witch that was already known for causing trouble) mess around with her. 

'All of you, go to Professor Dumbledores office. I suppose you know where that is? The passwords the same as last time. He'll be up to see you later, when he finds the time.'

She breezed away, her blue robes swirling out behind her. 

'Great.' Lily moaned. 'Just great.'

James laughed. 'Shows you shouldn't gloat.'

'I wasn't _gloating._ I was just…_telling_ you to watch out.'

'You said McGonagall was going to kill us.' Remus pointed out.

'_Most_ people would run in that situation.' Lily said grumpily. 

They had reached the entrance to Professor Dumbledores study, James told the picture the password and they entered. 

Most of the witches and wizards that were waiting for Professor Dumbledore over the years sat nervously in their chairs, waiting for him to come with their hands in their laps. 

But not these students.

Lily watched the professor's Phoenix fly about in its cage, she had never seen one before and was fascinated. 

The boys tried on the sorting hat, looked at the papers on Dumbledores desk, and were about to try a spell he had written out when the professor himself appeared in the fireplace.

'Good morning,' he said cheerfully.

'Morning.' They chorused and sat down in some chairs and waited for him to speak.

'Well. This is- what, the fifth time you've been here these last few years?'

'The sixth,' Sirius said proudly, and Dumbledore laughed. 

'Yes, the sixth. But only your first, Miss Cooper.'

'Uh huh.' This little talk wasn't going exactly the way she had expected, and just as she was relaxing, Dumbledore became serious.

'Mr Snape is quite upset, as is the rest of Slytherin house.'

'Oh.' Sirius said, trying to hide his smile. 'Sorry about that.'

'Mr Black, we cannot have this type of behaviour at Hogwarts. A few pranks, we can look over, but some people are getting sick of it. Professor McGonagall is one, I think she's beginning to run out of punishments.

James tried not to laugh.

'I will be taking 30 points from Gryffindor house, and you will all have a detention. You may go. Miss Cooper, could you stay a moment?'

Lily nodded and sat down again. Professor Dumbledore waited until all the boys had left before he spoke.

'Professor, I didn't do anything today, I swear-'

'Yes, I know.' He smiled at her kindly. 'You and Mr Potter are not friends, I take it.'

'Not really,' Lily muttered.

'As long as it doesn't get out of hand. He's a good boy at heart.'

Lily snorted, then suddenly remembered she was talking to the headmaster and blushed, but he just laughed.

'You can go, but try not to torment those boys too much. I think they underestimate you.'

Lily grinned and left the room glowing. _They underestimated her, hey?_ She rubbed her hands together. _This was going to be good. _

The Gryffindors had potions that day and they had to work with their partners.

'Pass the beetles.' James said shortly.

'_I_ need them.'

'We're supposed to be working _together_.'

'Unfortunately.' Lily said under her breath.

'I heard that.'

'Good, you were supposed to.'

They worked in silence for the rest of the lesson, until Sirius decided to join them. 

'Snape is driving me crazy,' he whined.

'Want to swap?' Lily asked.

'You're joking, aren't you?' Sirius said in disbelief. 'You want to go with Snape? Instead of _James_?'

Lily considered the possibilities. 'Actually, I might stay with James.'

'I knew it was too good to be true.' Sirius pulled a face and went back to the cauldron he was working at.

At lunchtime, Lily sat alone, reading a book. It was an ordinary muggle book she had brought from home, except she hadn't had any time to read it.

Towards the end of lunch she got the feeling someone was watching her, so she looked up quickly. Most people had left the Great Hall, and there were only one or two Hufflepuffs, a couple of Ravenclaws and some Gryffindors still eating. James and his friends were down the opposite end of the table to Lily and as she looked in their direction, James looked up. She met his eyes and he grinned at her. She poked her tongue out and went back to reading. 

But she still felt like someone was watching her.

*****

A few weeks after Snape received the howler, James got some letters. Lily was helping Remus study for a Charms test because he had been sick for awhile. Sirius leaned over to see what James had got, and let out a whoop of laughter.

Lily and Remus looked over curiously and saw that James's face had gone bright red. Remus read it over James' shoulder and soon joined Sirius in hysterical laughter.

Lily tried to read it, but James pulled it away.

'Hey!' Lily said in surprise. She made a grab at it, snatched it away and read it standing on a chair so James couldn't get it.

__

Dear James 

I miss you with all my heart. Life is so lonely without you. And you do such a good job of annoying Lily, better than I could ever do. I await your wonderful return,

Petunia Cooper

Lily shrieked with laughter and hopped off the chair, singing

'James and Petunia, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes-'

James clapped his hand over her mouth. 'I do _not_ like your bony, horse-faced sister.' He hissed angrily.

Lily sighed. 'Good thing too. I wouldn't want to be related to someone who can't even brush their hair.'

Something in James popped and he made a grab for her hair, missed, landed face first in some porridge and then chased Lily around the Great Hall.

Lily ran into Professor Flitwick, knocked him down, and then James tripped over them both. 

Professor McGonagall ran over to find Professor Flitwick putting on his spectacles and James Potter and Lily Cooper trying to kill each other. That's what it looked like, anyway.

*****

James got quite a few letters from Petunia, and grew more and more embarrassed. 

But after awhile, she grew tired of it and they all forgot about them. 

Voldemort was gaining more power. 

He didn't dare try to enter Hogwarts, but all around them he was killing people. 

In the newspapers they said he believed greatly in Divination. Apparently, when he was still at school, the teacher had made a prediction. 

__

The great one will rise,

the good will fall,

the great one will die,

and child rise above them all.

Most said it was just a stupid prediction, but divinators believed it. Other people said 'but wouldn't that mean he'll die?' 

The thing about predictions, they soon realised, was that there were a number of ways to look at them. So in the end, the kids went back to concentrating on school- work.

Lily's nightmares grew worse and worse, until it got to the stage where she didn't want to go to sleep at all.

One night, she sat in the common room drinking coffee to keep herself awake. She heard whispers coming from the boy's staircase, but she was too tired to move, and just sat and listened. 

She recognised James and Sirius's voices, and heard them sit down near her. 

They obviously hadn't noticed her there though, because she could hear them whispering to each other quite loudly. 

'We'll need to get most of the ingredients from the Professors cupboard,' Sirius whispered.

'Okay, you do that and I'll bring some from home. I think dad has some stuff for making potions.'

'It's almost sad Severus isn't our friend.' Sirius commented.

'Why's that?' James asked, and Lily could picture his amused expression in the darkness.

'Because he's good at potions. Although that's about it.'

James laughed and then said in a whisper 'You're not too good at charms, are you?' 

'Nope. Oh, _no_. Neither are you. Remus is hopeless, and there's no point asking Peter. He's just pathetic.'

'_Sirius_.' James scolded him. 'He isn't that bad. But you're right, he's not that good either. We need someone to help us with that part of the potion. We can't afford to mess it up.'

'Yeah, but we can't tell anyone either. And the only person I can think of that's good at charms- really good- is Lily. And she'd tell for sure.'

'No I wouldn't.' Lily said, and shut her mouth immediately. She hadn't meant to say anything.

The two boys glared at her. 'Do you have some kind of spell on you that says 'I must listen to all of James and Sirius's private conversations?' Sirius asked in exasperation.

'_No_. But I wouldn't be able to hear them if you checked to see that no one was there first. It isn't _my_ fault you're dumb enough to talk about something important out in the open.'

James pulled a face at her. 'Why are you up, anyway?'

Lily remembered why she _was_ there, and sighed. 

'Just because. Do you want help on this potion or not?'

'I don't suppose,' Sirius said slowly 'that you'd help us without us having to tell you what we were actually doing?'

'Fat chance.'

James knew that she wasn't going to give up, and said so to Sirius. 

'We want to become animagi.' He said in a rush.

Lily stared at him in the darkness. 'You are joking, aren't you?'

'No. Do you want to help, or not?'

'Sure I do. It'll be fun. But why?'

'Why what?'

Lily rolled her eyes. '_Why_ do you want to become animagi? There has to be a reason.' She paused and grinned. 'Do you just want to impress Petunia, James? Knock on her door and say, 'look at me, I can turn into a hyena!' Lily fell into an armchair in hysterics. 'She'd _love_ that.'

James glared at her. 

'We can't tell you why. But now you know, will you help us?' 

'I said I would. If you don't mind, I'm going to bed.'

She walked slowly up the girls' staircase and into her dorm, but she didn't go to sleep. She tried not to, anyway. But soon she drifted off.

A flash of green light woke her up. She sat in bed breathing heavily, and she sighed. 

__

When will this stop?

*****

For the last couple of months they had left of school, Lily hung around with Sirius, James and Remus. 

She and James still weren't exactly what you could call friends, and they did their best to disagree on everything. But Remus and Lily were friends, and although Sirius teased Lily quite a bit (and vice-versa), they both had the same odd sense of humour and Lily was probably closest to him out of all of them. 

She helped them with their potion, even though they didn't really need her yet. She didn't like Peter though. She could tolerate James, it was fun to tease him, but Peter gave her the creeps for some reason. When she tried to tell the others, they wouldn't listen. But Peter didn't like Lily either. In fact, he hated he hated her guts to be precise. 

James didn't really notice, because whenever he was around Peter acted normal. But sometimes when it was just Remus, Sirius and Lily, it showed.

Remus tried to patch it up, but it seemed nothing could be done. And every time Lily looked at Peter, she remembered her nightmares. So she tried to ignore him and after awhile, it worked. But Peter did his best to leave her out in everything possible, only for her to say something witty and make the others laugh, or for her to help them with their homework. 

He hated her. 

She was taking _his_ place in the group. 

Where _he_ should be. 

But there was nothing he could do about it.

*****

James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily all sat squashed into one compartment on Hogwarts express on the way home for the holidays. 

They _had_ been quite comfortable, until Lily appeared. Holly and Laura weren't talking to her, because she had accidentally drenched them in an itching potion the day before. 

She hadn't meant to, it was a dare from Sirius. It was _supposed_ to hit Snape, but he moved away too quickly. So she crammed in with them.

She ignored the way Peter's eyes were burning into her angrily, like she had intruded on something. 

But, in the end, it gave him a headache giving her daggers, so he settled for disagreeing with everything she said. But she didn't notice, as James already did that most of the time.

Petunia was waiting for Lily with her parents at the station; something she'd never done before. But instead of running over to Lily, she ran over to James. James waved goodbye to his friends and made a break for it. 

Petunia walked back over to where her family stood, dejected. 

'Is James coming over in the holidays?' She asked hopefully, glaring at Lily when she snickered.

'No, sorry sweetie. We're having a nice, quiet holiday at home.'

'Whoopee.' She said sarcastically. 'Can't I visit him?' She added.

'He'd hide under his invisibility cloak if he saw you coming.' Lily said with a laugh. 

Petunia sneered at her little sister. '_They_ don't exist.' She said primly, and hurried off to the car, hoping to catch a glimpse of James.

Lily followed, mimicking '_They_ don't exist.' In a prissy little voice. 

'What don't?' Someone said from behind her.

'Huh?' Lily turned around and knocked into James. He rubbed his head.

'You have an awful habit of doing that, you know?'

'Yeah.' Her mother honked the car horn and Lily could see Petunia crawling out of the car. (She'd seen James.) 

'See you, four-eyes.'

She ran off to the car laughing, and heard James call 

'Bye, Carrot.' 

She jumped in the car and stuck her head out the window.

'I hope your car breaks down,' she yelled as they drove off.

'Don't have one.' He called in return. 

They turned a corner and James disappeared from sight. 

Disclaimer: I really don't see what the point of this is. I mean, we know I don't own anything, don't we? Unless you think I'm J.K. Rowling, and then you have serious problems. So yeah, everything's hers, nothing's mine. Except the stuff and the people I made up. 

I think you know what I'm about to say, don't you? You do. Review. Hey, that rhymes. Cool. 


	4. The wonders of floo powder

****

The Flower and the Stag 

Part 4

Lily wandered around Diagon Alley, window-shopping. She had already bought all of her school stuff, and was trying to find James. His parents were going to drop her off at Kings Cross the next day with him, Remus, Peter and Sirius.

'Hey Carrot!' A familiar voice called.

Lily turned around and grinned, then crossed her eyes. 

'Hullo.'

Remus, Sirius, Peter and James were walking towards her, carrying bags full of… she wasn't sure what. Whatever it was, it wasn't books. And if it was books, there were an awful lot of them. 

'What's that?' She pointed at the bags with a curious expression her face. 

Peter tried to look down at his nose at her, but she was taller than he was, so he settled for a superior look. 'None of your business, Lily.' He spat out her name like it was a rotten piece of fruit.

She glared at him and turned to Sirius. 'Will _you_ tell me?' 

Sirius nodded, but first he talked to Peter. 'She knows about the potion.' 

'Oh.' Peter tried to hide his disappointment, but failed. 

'We needed ingredients and some spell books to help us.' Remus explained. 

'We didn't want to get stuck as trees,' James said with a grin.

Peter spoke up. 'Are _you_ going to be an animagi as well?' 

She hadn't thought of this. 'Nah. I'm happy human, thankyou.'

He breathed a sigh of relief, but only Sirius saw and he frowned at the smaller boy. 

'So. What animals do you want to be?' She asked.

'Ssshh!' They all hissed together.

'_What?_' Lily whispered.

James started to walk off, and motioned for them to follow him. 

When they were alone in an alleyway, he spoke. 

'It's illegal to become animagi.' He told her.

'I _know_ that.' 

'So we don't want people to over hear us. We'd get expelled.' 

'Oh yeah. Sorry.'

'So you should be,' Peter said, pleased Lily was in some trouble.

Lily ignored him. 'What animals _do_ you want to be?'

'Well,' Sirius said. 'You can't choose. The animal sort of has something to do with your personality.'

'So Peter'll be a rat?' Lily asked with a giggle. Peter poked his tongue out at her. 

'We got a book where you can sort of look in to what you might be.' Remus said, looking through one of the bags. 

'The shop keeper said it was a lot of nonsense, but it might be interesting.'

'Cool.' 

Then they heard someone calling James's name, so they packed the bags and ran out into the sunshine. 

James's dad was waiting for them with a big grin on his face. 'Morning boys.' Then he saw Lily. 'And girl.'

Lily smiled. 

'So, we'd better be off. It'll take awhile to get home.' He said cheerfully.

As they walked to one of the fireplaces, Lily spoke to James. 'Isn't he sad that you're leaving?' 

His dad over heard her. 'I'm delighted.'

James poked his tongue out. 'he's putting on a brave face. But when we leave, he'll break down into tears.'

'I don't know.' Lily said playfully. 'He _does_ seem happy. But then, if I were him, I'd be happy too. Away from you for a whole term! Heaven.' She sighed.

Sirius grinned. 'Nah, don't worry James. She'd probably chase after you if you were away for a whole term.'

'As if I would!' 

'You would.' 

'Would not!' 

'Would too!'

James and Remus exchanged a glance, and Remus shrugged. 

They followed James's father through Diagon alley arguing the whole way. 

Mr Potter handed Lily some bright green powder. 'Ladies first,' he said with a smile. 

Lily looked at the powder in her hand and then at the five people standing next to her.

'Um…What exactly am I supposed to do?' 

'Oh yeah, Dad, she's never travelled by floo powder before.' James said.

'haven't you?' he said in surprise.

'Uh, no.' 

'She's a mud-blood.' Peter said with a smug smile. 

'Better than a half-squib.' Lily snapped. 

To add to Peters' anger, everyone sided with Lily. 

'But- she called me a half-squib!' He whined.

'And you called her a mud-blood!' Sirius pointed out angrily. He didn't like Peter much either. 

'Kids, kids.' Mr Potter said calmly.

They stopped fighting. 

'Back to the issue at hand.' 

They all looked confused, and he sighed. 

'The floo powder.'

'Oh, yeah.'

'James, you can go first then.'

James grabbed a pinch of floo powder and sprinkled it into the fire. It blazed higher and turned bright green. James stepped right into it and said loudly 'Aberdene!'

Lily looked Sirius. 'Aberdene?' She repeated. 

'That's the name of his house.'

'Why do you give a _house_ a name?'

'So you can use floo powder.' 

'Right.' Lily nodded her head. 

'You don't get it, do you?' 

'Nope.'

'Okay, you go next.' Sirius pushed her towards Mr Potter. 'You just sprinkle some in, say 'Aberdene' –and you have to say it loudly- and you _should_ be there.' 

'_Should_?' 

'Yeah. Some times people panic and get stuck. Or they fall out the wrong fireplace. Don't worry, it's never happened to me.' 

Lily sprinkled some powder in, and stopped to listen to some last minute instructions.

'Keep your arms in tight-'

'Don't panic-'

'Jump out the first fireplace you see.'

'Peter!' Remus scolded. 

'Don't do that last bit,' Sirius advised.

Lily hopped into the fireplace. It felt like someone was tickling her with a lot of very big feathers. 

'Aberdene!' She said, and almost swallowed a mouthful of ash. 

She fell out onto a carpet with a bang, and looked around her. It was a very nice room, well furnished, but cosy. 

And empty. Where the hell was James?

'Oh God, tell me I didn't fall out the wrong one.' She moaned quietly. 

Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she shrieked. 

'Ow.' Who ever it was said. She turned slowly around, and there stood James, rubbing his ears. 

'Took you long enough. You weren't _scared_, were you?' He said with a grin. 

Lily glared at him. 

'_No_. What's to be scared of?' he looked at her suspiciously. 

'Oh, you know. Dragons have been known to eat people up on lucky occasions.' Lily stared at him.

'_Lucky_?'

'Well, yeah. Do you know anyone who's been eaten by a dragon?'

Lily figured he was kidding. 'Are you on any type of medication?' She teased, and felt his forehead. 

'Just as I thought. _Very_ hot.' She looked up at James and laughed. 

She suddenly realised she'd been looking at him for a long time, when Sirius rolled out onto the carpet and spread soot everywhere. Lily looked away quickly. 

Sirius didn't notice anything though, because he was to busy brushing dust off himself. 

'How'd you get so much soot on you?' James said, staring at his friend in disbelief. 

'Took the long way. Visited some friends, you know.' James rolled his eyes, and Sirius grinned. 

'Your old man'll have a fit. I saw his face when I didn't say Aberdene, and I thought he'd turned green.' He sat down, soot and all on a couch. Lily waited for James to tell him off, but he didn't even seem to notice.

'D'you have a house-keeper?' She asked. 

James looked at her in surprise. 'No. We're not _that_ rich. Dad doesn't like the idea of having servants. Do you have a housekeeper?'

'No. Forget it,' she said, shaking her head. 

Remus and Mr potter turned up after about 5 minutes, but Peter didn't turn up at all. 

Mr and Mrs Potter were starting to get worried. 

'Who went after him?' Mrs Potter asked her husband, and he sighed. 

'He went last.'

'Lachlan!' She scolded him. 

'He wanted to! He insisted, and said everything'd be fine.'

They argued for a moment longer, and then they realised that the kids were still watching. 

'James, could you show your friends where they'll be sleeping?' 

James nodded and walked out the room, Lily, Remus and Sirius trailing behind. 

James stopped by a blue door and opened it. 'You're sleeping here,' he said to Lily. 

'By myself?' Lily asked, peeking into the dark room. 

'Yep. Why, scared of the dark?'

'More scared of you than I am of the dark. You're not sleeping near me, are you?' 

'We're sleeping in this room down here,' he pointed down the corridor. 

Lily shrugged. 'Okay.' Then she watched them continue down the hall and turn into their room. 

She turned on the light and looked around. It was a very nice room, with a bed in one corner and a window above it. She grinned. At home, she had to walk over to the window to see the stars, but now she could watch them until she fell asleep. 

Lily crawled into bed and snuggled down under the covers sleepily. 

A crash of thunder sounded outside and she sat bolt upright. 

Moonlight was shining across her bed and rain was splattering down on the windows, so she lay in bed and listened to the howl of the wind outside. She loved storms like this, the louder, the better.

James, Remus and Sirius lay in sleeping bags in James's room. They left the bed empty, in case Peter turned up in the night, which they thought was unlikely. 

'Bet Lily's scared,' Sirius said with a grin. 

'I don't reckon she would be.' Remus said slowly, and the others stared at him.

'Why's that?' 

'She just doesn't seem like that sort of person.' 

'Yeah, guess not.' James agreed. 'Hey, did I tell you about that ghost in the attic?'

'Ghost?' Sirius said, he was halfway through a yawn, but was now suddenly wide-awake. 

'Yep. It howls when there's a storm, but it's invisible. So it's not an ordinary ghost, not like Nearly Headless Nick, anyway.' James lowered his voice. 'Dad said, once when an old lady lived here, she was found dead. But she had been perfectly healthy. And here's the spooky thing. She was ice-cold.'

'Probably just a heart attack,' Remus said reasonably, trying not to shake. 

'Yeah.' Sirius agreed.

'But,' James said slowly and dramatically, 'Whenever there's a storm, it howls and moans, and people say they can hear the lady's spirit screaming for help. Dad always tells me to keep my light on, and he locks the doors.'

'What good's that gonna do?' Sirius said from under his pillow. 

James looked thoughtful. 'Dunno. Guess It's just a precaution.' He shrugged. 

There was a loud knock on the door; James dived under the bed, Remus jumped _into_ the bed, and Sirius burrowed even further down in his sleeping bag. 

The door creaked as it opened and a man's voice said 'Boys?' The light was switched on, and James looked out from his hiding place.

'Oops. Hi Dad!' He said cheerfully, crawling out. 

'You aren't scared of the storm, are you?' 

'What? Us? No way! We were just… Playing a game! Yeah, that's it.'

He raised his eyebrows. 'Well, don't stay up too late, you've got a big day tomorrow.'

'Yup.' James nodded his head. 

He walked out and shut the door behind them, leaving the room in darkness. 

James leapt under the bed again.

About half an hour later, Sirius said 

'Um? James? Remus? You awake?' 

'Yes.' 

'Uh huh.' 

'We're being stupid. I mean, we're _wizards_. We shouldn't be scared of a stupid old ghost. Even if it does murder-' he changed his mind. 'Actually, I think I'll stay under here for a bit longer. Nice and cosy.'

'Sirius is right.' Remus said from under the blankets on James' bed. 'We're fourteen years 

old-'

'I'm still thirteen,' Sirius interrupted.

'Whatever. But we shouldn't be scared of a ghost.'

'I agree.' James said firmly. But none of them moved.

Lily sat up in bed, unable to sleep. It was boring, lying in bed all-alone, when everyone else was probably having fun. So she pulled a blanket around her and crept out the door, tip-toed down the hallway and put her ear to the door of James's room.

It was silent. 

__

Don't tell me they're already_ asleep._ She thought grumpily.

Then she had a great idea. 

James was counting the springs under his mattress, when he heard a low moan and sat up, banging his head on the springs. 

'Yeow!' he yelled. 

'Shut up!' Sirius hissed. He shut up and listened. 

The moaning didn't stop. It grew louder and louder over about five minutes. 

'What should we do?' Remus asked, his eyes wide.

'Get my dad.' James said straight away. 'He'll know what to do.'

'And walk right through a murderous ghost?' Sirius said. 'I don't _think_ so. Let's just stay here.'

'And wait for the ghost to kill _us_? You're crazy.'

They argued over what to do for so long, Lily's throat became dry from moaning, and she started to giggle. 

The boys turned to the door in surprise, and it burst open to reveal Lily sitting on the ground laughing so hard she was crying. 

They stared at her for a moment, as she sat doubled over, helpless with laughter. Then James spoke. 'We _were_ trying to sleep.'

Lily looked at them with watery eyes. 'You- you-' she broke off into another fit of giggles. 

After she'd calmed down, she said 'You thought I was a murderous ghost!' And she fell down onto a sleeping bag she thought was empty, and landed on a snoring Sirius. 

He gave a yelp and Lily leapt off in shock. 

'What the _hell_ is in there?' She pointed to the sleeping bags from the doorway, her face whiter than usual. 

'A monster.' James said calmly. 'but don't worry, it's quite tame.'

'A monster?'

'Yup. Very rare, mind you. Want to see it?'

'_It_?' Lily was having a hard time grasping the concept that a monster was in front of her. 

Remus unzipped it and flipped back the covers. Lily shrieked, and Sirius stared sleepily at her. 

'Whadyowah?' He said sleepily. 

Lily glared at James, and he grinned at her. 

'Gotcha.'

'I got you first.' She retorted.

He poked it tongue out at her. 'Why are you here, anyway? Don't tell me you were scared of the storm.'

'I was bored. Can I stay here tonight?' 

'What?' James asked.

'Why?' Remus asked.

'G' night.' Sirius said.

'Can I sleep here, because I'm lonely, Good night Sirius.' She said without missing a beat.

Lily didn't wait for an answer, she just walked right in and crawled into a sleeping bag. 

'_I'm_ sleeping there.' James said. 

Lily looked up and grinned. 'Well, there's plenty of room.' She moved over. 

James looked at her. 'I might sleep in my bed.'

Lily shrugged. 'Okay.'

Lily and Remus fell asleep pretty quickly, but Sirius was snoring so incredibly loudly, James couldn't sleep. He rolled over in bed and looked at the moon, but then some clouds covered it and everything went dark. 

He lay on his other side and stared into the darkness. He was looking forward to going back to school. Maybe not _school_, but _being_ at school was fun. 

The moon came out again, and it shone on Lily. James looked at her sleeping, and almost laughed. 

She looked a bit older than fourteen during the day, probably because she was quite tall. James and Sirius were both taller, but apparently they were _very_ abnormal, and she was just abnormal. 

But when she slept, she looked like she was ten years old. Lily was sucking on her thumb and had kicked off her blankets and lay curled up in a ball. Her red hair was tangled over the pillow and she breathed through her nose quietly, unlike Sirius, who sounded like fifteen pigs at meal time. 

Remus was cuddling a teddy bear to his chest and his hair was falling down over his face. 

Lily stirred, and opened her eyes. 'Is it morning?' She mumbled.

'No. I couldn't sleep.'

'Scared of the ghosties?' She teased. 

'Shut up.'

'Night. Don't let the bed-bugs bite- wait a minute. I hope they eat you alive.'

'Good _night_, Lily.'

But she was already asleep.

*****

At Hogwarts, things had changed. When they got off the Express, all the teachers were waiting for them with their wands, and not even Dumbledore was smiling. 

'What's Dumbledore doing _here?_' Sirius said in amazement. 

James looked at the solemn face of the headmaster, and said 'Voldemort.'

Everyone around stared at him. 'What?' 

A Ravenclaw girl came up to him, and said crossly 'It's _You-Know-Who.'_

James glared at her. 'His _name_ is _Voldemort_.' The girl flinched and walked away.

Peter, who had turned up in the night from nowhere in particular, tugged on his robes.

'What?' James snapped. 

Peter was offended. Usually James was very nice to him.

'You're _not supposed to call him by his name._' He hissed.

'I'm not giving him the satisfaction.' James said angrily, and he hopped into one of the carriages that would take them to Hogwarts. 

Remus, Lily and Sirius climbed in after him. Peter looked in through the doorway. 'What about me?' He whined.

'What about you?' Lily asked politely.

'Move _over_.' 

He tried to push Lily out of the way, and when she wouldn't move, he pulled her out. 

With Lily out the way, Peter crawled awkwardly into the carriage to find it was empty. He looked out the window and saw Lily lying very still on the ground. James, Sirius and Remus were kneeling around her.

*****

Lily lay in the infirmary. She tried to focus on the face in front of her, but it kept going fuzzy. 

It probably wasn't even real, she told herself. She reached out and touched it.

And poked James Potter in the eye.

'OW!' He gasped. 

'Wha?' Lily said vaguely. 

Her eyes' swimmed in front of her before everything came into focus.

James was rubbing his eye, Remus was sitting on a chair reading a book and Sirius was snoozing. 

She could see Peter pleading with professor McGonagall outside the doors. He was crying. Lily usually felt sorry for anyone who cried, but Peter looked so _pathetic_. She grinned sleepily.

'Hullo.' James smiled at her. 

'What happened to your eye?' Lily asked. 

James looked at Sirius and then back at Lily. 'Maybe you need more sleep.' 

'How long _have_ I been asleep?' 

'Umm?.. About six hours?' Remus said, and Sirius nodded his head. 

'What? But- I've missed the sorting.'

'Yeah. So did we.'

'You sat here for six hours?' Lily said in amazement.

'Well, no. About two. McGonagall made us eat.'

Professor McGonagall was standing behind Sirius as he said this, with an amused expression on her face. 

'I don't remember saying anything of the sort, Mr Black. I thought you said you were starving.'

'Oh.. Um, yeah. I might have said something like that.'

Lily didn't hear the rest of the conversation; she had dozed off to sleep. 

*****

It was Christmas time, and almost everyone had gone home for the holidays. They were terrified Voldemort would come and get them. Holly's theory was that Voldemort would wait until Dumbledore was drunk, and then he'd kill them all. 

Lily said it was a pretty good theory, but with a few tiny flaws. One, Dumbledore had never gotten drunk before. Two, Voldemort couldn't get into the castle. Three. She couldn't think of a three, but when Holly said 'See?', Lily pointed out the first two were pretty good. 

Most prefects were staying (they thought Voldemort wouldn't mess with them), there wasn't a first year in sight, and most of the seventh years had stayed. 'To protect the school' one Ravenclaw girl said, but James thought they were more useless than everyone else put together. 

'They only care about the exams,' he muttered when he heard this. 

Sirius grinned. '_We'll_ protect everyone!' And for the rest of the holidays, he walked around rescuing maidens in distress. Most of the maidens either slapped him, or turned red and walked away, but one intelligent person recommended a psychiatrist. 

Sirius was deeply offended. 

When everyone else returned, lessons started again. Most of the classes when on like normal, but some teachers were very pre-occupied, Professor McGonagall in particular. James and Sirius became bored when she was writing on the blackboard one day, and they threw a dungbomb at Holly. 

Instead of yelling, screaming, or crying (a substitute teacher did that once), she told Holly quite calmly she could have the rest of the day off, gave Sirius and James a detention, and let them all out early. 

'What's the point of being bad when you don't even get into trouble?' Sirius grumbled through a mouthful of pie. 

'You got a detention.' Peter said. 

'You call _that_ a punishment?'

'Most do. Normal people, anyway.' Lily said. 

'Well, Miss Normal, I am not.'

'Not what?' 

'Normal.'

'I know _that._'

'She didn't even get mad.' James said thoughtfully. 'Something must be wrong.' 

'Yeah, a little something called Voldemort.' Remus said. 

'Will you _stop_ saying that name? It's creepy. He'll hear you.' Peter muttered. 

'How?' Lily challenged him.

'He just will.' Peter argued. 

'Does he have spies everywhere or something? Don't be stupid, Peter.' Sirius said. 

Peter sat quietly for the rest of lunch. He listened carefully to everything they said, and scuttled off quickly before the afternoon classes began. 

After lunch they had defence against the dark arts. Peter wasn't there. But Lily was the only one who noticed, as she was working with him. Supposed to be, anyway. So she sat with her head in her arms, looking up occasionally to watch James get screeched at by the professor. (He turned her hair green.) Sirius and Remus were busily discussing something (Lily suspected it wasn't legal, as they shut up as soon as anyone went near to them). But Peter didn't show up all lesson. 

*****

__

A small figure sat on an old broom, shaking from fear and from the cold. But mostly fear. He wasn't exactly afraid; but his master had been known to do some very cruel things. As long as his information pleased him, it'd be okay.

His small beady eyes looked over the landscape, but the building he was looking for was not in sight. 

He wondered if anyone would notice his absence, but he wasn't really worried about it. His friends- wait they were not friends. They were the people who were patient enough to put up with him, but he knew they didn't really like him. Well, maybe some did, but she didn't. He knew it, but he didn't particularly care. She was in the way of his plans, his great, marvellous plans.

Anyway, his companions missed enough school, while he went to every lesson. He couldn't afford to miss anything, or he fell too far behind. She'd probably do all the work anyway. She always said he was stupid. She never actually said it, but he could tell. The look in her eyes- and that was another thing. Her eyes. What was it with them? They stood out far too much. He wished he had eyes like that. Then maybe someone would notice him. But no, she got everything. Looks, friends, brains, admirers- she didn't know it, but he did. Even the people in his league thought she was a catch. 

But after this, everyone would know his name. He wouldn't be a nobody; he'd be a somebody. And hopefully eliminate her in the process.

He squinted down into the countryside, and cursed the sun for being so bright. 

There it was. A large, run-down house made of wood. Muggles thought it was deserted, his master was clever like that. 

The boy landed with a skid. He had never been any good at flying. Or anything else for that matter, he thought bitterly.

He hid the broom in a tree and prayed it wouldn't be stolen. If it was, he'd be stuck. Master wouldn't help him. That wasn't in his nature. While his friends would always help- 'no.' he scolded himself. 'You can't think like that. Master will kill you. Remember all the times they've left you out, snapped at you. Remember them?' he nodded firmly to himself. 

'I must do this. For me.'

He knocked on the door. 

'Password?' an eerie voice said loudly. 

'Midnight, the witching hour.' The boy said loudly, hoping it hadn't been changed. Master could get very grumpy.

The door creaked open. He stepped inside loudly, as master didn't approve of tiptoeing. He said it was for wimps. 

The boy climbed the stairs, fiercely telling his legs to stop shaking. And his teeth. And his hands. 

He knocked on an old door with a brass handle. It swung open. 

'Who is it?' A figure in a black and gold cloak said softly, his voice sort of- hissish. 

'Peter, Sire.' 

'Peter who?' The voice growled dangerously. 

'Pettigrew, Sire. You asked for background information at Hogwarts.'

'Ah, yes. And what do you have for me, boy?'

'What- what do you want to know?' He stammered. It was cold in this room. There was a fireplace filled with coal, but no fire. The master must have noticed, because he snapped his fingers and a blazing fire lit up the room. 

'Give me names, boy. Who can we trust? Who would be needed? Who must we get rid of?' 

'Well.' Peter gathered his thoughts together. 'The Slytherins are probably your best bet. They're sneaky, cunning, and down-right mean.' The figure in the cloak smiled, as if this pleased him. 

'They're pretty stupid too, though.' The figure frowned, and Peter flinched. 

'Who would be useful?' He hissed quietly. 

'Umm, well…Some of my friends-'

'Friends?' Master interrupted. 

'Well, they're not really my friends. But they're clever.' He added hastily.

'Oh? How's that?' 

'They want to be animagi. And they're popular, good at Quidditch, funny…' Peter trailed off.

'And are they for or against the dark-arts?' 

'Against.' Peter said quickly. This, at least, was obvious.

'Will it be easy to convert them?' The cloaked figure asked, stroking their chin. 

'Not easy, no. But if we could, it would be a great help.'

'Yes, yes. How about thorns in our path?'

'Huh?' Said Peter stupidly, and the figure sighed impatiently. 

'Will anyone get in our way?'

'…There is one person. She's-'

'She's?' Master said in surprise. 

'Yes. She hangs around with us. They're besotted by her.' Peter said angrily. 

'Besotted,' the figure repeated, clearly amused at Peter's anger.

'And what is this girl like?'

'Well. She's very clever, especially at charms. And she's funny, that's why Sirius and James like her, in my opinion. She's nice to most, but she dislikes me. I think she suspects me.'

'What?!' The master hissed.

'Oh, no, not like that!' Peter said hurriedly. 

'Good. But why is this such a problem?'

'She doesn't listen to people. And she has nightmares, Sirius let it slip to me. She would stand up to you, I know she would.'

'Hmm.' The figure seemed to be thinking. 'I'll think of something. You may leave.' He added, with a wave of his hand. 

Peter bowed and left the room in a rush. He was determined to please his master, but being around him too much gave him the creeps. 

He mounted his broom and flew home through the clouds, crashing into a tree, cutting himself, and getting knocked unconscious. 

*****

Lily, James and Sirius were playing chasey in the snow, after being told off by the fifth years. Sirius was 'it'. Lily and James were racing through the forest, when they came across a figure. He was lying face down and breathing heavily, it looked just like he was asleep, except for a long cut on one arm. He must have scraped himself on a stick. 

'It's Peter!' James exclaimed, and he ran over to him. 

Lily followed slowly behind, breathless from running so fast. Sirius appeared a moment later, breathing heavily. 'Who's that?' he asked, clutching a stitch in his side.

'Peter.' Lily said. 

'Huh? What's he doing here?' 

'Dunno. Help me get him up,' James said, trying to lift Peter by himself. 

'Why?' Lily and Sirius said in unison. 

James glared at them, so Lily sighed and lifted his feet. They carried him up to the castle, with Sirius bringing up the rear, saying things like 

'try not to drop him,' 

and Lily'd reply 'I'll do my best.'

They only dropped him once, by accident. At least, Lily _said_ it was an accident when Peter woke up wailing. 

They left him in the infirmary to do their homework, and raced each other up the stairs. 

They all went to Hogsmeade about two weeks before the end of school. Lots of kids didn't go, as Voldemort was real outside the school gates. Some people thought if they walked out of school alone, they'd be blown up.

So Lily, Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were the only fourth years going. It was very empty at Hogsmeade, and after buying sweets from Honeydukes, they wandered around for awhile, bored. 

Remus didn't want to go to the shrieking shack, although Lily was quite eager to. Sirius talked her out of it when he offered her a free butterbeer. 

A bell rung softly when they opened the door, and Madame Rosmerta appeared. 

'Afternoon, kids.' She said cheerfully.

'Hullo. Could we have five butterbeers, please?' James asked politely. 

'Or you could give us them for free, we wouldn't mind,' Sirius added with a cheeky grin. 

Madame Rosmerta laughed. 'Five butterbeers coming right up.' 

They found an empty table, which wasn't hard, because the place was almost completely empty anyway. 

Madame Rosmerta walked briskly over with the butterbeers, and smiled at them all. 'No free drinks today, I'm afraid. Business is down at the moment.'

'Yeah, I can see that.' Sirius said, looking around. 

'We'll come in more often. We'll tell McGonagall you're going broke, she wouldn't want that. And then, when we've made you rich, you can give us free drinks again.' James said cheerfully, sipping on his butterbeer. Madame Rosmerta laughed. 

'I'll see you kids later.' She said with a pretty smile. 

*****

On Hogwarts Express, James stared gloomily out the window, while Lily danced on the chairs. She'd had a bit too much red cordial that morning, and had gone hyper. Sirius was egging her on with a huge smile on his face, and Remus laughed. Peter wasn't there, he'd disappeared again. 

The train turned a corner and Lily fell on top of James with a shriek. Sirius was laughing too hard to help them up, and Remus was in hysterics. Lily untangled herself from James robes and giggled, while James groaned. 

'Sorry.' She said with a laugh.

'I think you need to take it easy for awhile,' he said, his eyebrows raised. Lily started to sing. 

Sirius pulled his camera out silently and grinned at James. The light went flash, and brought Lily back to earth.

'You didn't just-'

Sirius nodded.

'Oh no. Oh _no_. _Oh_ NO.' She said, her cheeks still pink from dancing. 

The train stopped, and Sirius and Lily jumped off the train, Lily trying to grab Sirius's camera, but he was far too tall for her. 

Lily bumped into her mother. 'Oh, hi mum.' She said casually. Then she called to Sirius 'You'd better not get that developed!' 

Sirius laughed. 'I will!'

She poked her tongue out and followed her mother to the car, dragging her trunk behind her. 

'So, how was school, sweetie?' 

'Strange.' She said, pulling at face at Severus Snape out the window. 

Disclaimer: Again, nothing is mine. It's quite depressing, really. 

And again, I really like reviews. Especially the nice ones. 

Starlight. 


	5. this and that , someone dies boo hoo, la...

I really like this part…Not for any particular reason. I just do. It's really long, so make sure you have plenty of time. Kay? Sorry about any typing errors or anything. They just seem to happen. 

****

The Flower and the Stag 

Part 5

Lily danced around the house, singing quietly to herself. She was in a very good mood, for some unknown reason. When her mother asked her to do the dishes, Lily agreed happily, and washed them with a huge smile on her face. Mrs Cooper looked at her daughter in bewilderment. 

__

That school has done something to my daughter's brain, she thought in wonderment. _Either that or she's eaten something poisonous. _

Lily stared at the parchment in front of her, biting her lip in frustration. Petunia appeared at the door, and grinned snakily. 'Having problems there, sister dear?'

Lily smiled pleasantly, and surprised her sister. 'Actually, yes. Don't suppose you know what to use in an itching potion?' 

Petunia gave her a dirty look. 'No.' Then she stormed out. 

Lily grinned to herself, and then looked back at her parchment, and sighed.

There was a tapping on the window. She turned, expecting to see her owl, Pickles. But instead she saw three figures suspended up in mid-air. They grinned broadly, and the middle-one tapped again, motioning for her to open the window. She did, and James, Sirius and Remus flew onto her carpet, Remus crashing into her bookshelf. He still hadn't mastered broomstick flying, mainly because he wasn't interested. 

She stared at them, her eyes wide open in shock. 

'I'm starving.' James said, rubbing his stomach greedily. 

'Are you now? Well, there's a pizza place down the street. You're welcome to go there.'

Sirius pulled a face. 'We _were_ hoping for something a little closer to home.'

'_Oh_. You mean _here_?' She said in mock surprise. 

'Yes.' 

'Too bad. We've had dinner. What am I going to say, 'uh mum? Three boys from school flew up to my window, mind if we feed them?'

'Yeah. Sounds good.' Sirius said, nodding his head. 

Petunia knocked on the door, and Lily groaned. 

'Oh no. Quick! Into the cupboards!' 

James stared at her in surprise, so she grabbed his t-shirt, and pushed him under her bed. 

Petunia burst in. 'Who were you talking to?' She asked suspiciously. 

'No one.' Lily said in rush, making Petunia even more suspicious. 

'Do you have an invisible friend?' Petunia sneered. 

'No. I wasn't talking to anyone.' 

'Yeah, right. I'll bet-' 

there was a low moan, coming from under the bed. 

Petunia gasped. Lily pretended to look terrified, and started to shove Petunia out. Then the moans started to laugh. 

Before Lily could stop her, Petunia leapt over to the bed and pulled up the blankets. 

James poked his tongue out, and Lily buried her face in her hands. 

Petunia ran out the room, shrieking 'MUM! MUM! _There's a boy under Lily's bed!_' 

James crawled out from under the bed, and Lily glared at him. 'Thankyou _very_ much.' She said crossly. 

'You're very welcome.'

Remus and Sirius burst out from the wardrobe, bringing an avalanche of clothes out with them. 

'Any food yet?' Sirius asked hungrily. 

'I'm deciding how I should eat you. Would you prefer boiled or fried?' 

'Boiled.' Remus said immediately. 

'Fried.' Sirius argued. 

James joined the conversation. 'Boiled. Less pain.' 

'Oh, good. I'll fry you. The more pain, the better. Just wait while I get a saucepan.' 

She disappeared out the door, and the three boys stared at each other. 

'She _is _kidding, isn't she?'

'Yeah. Lily's weird, but she's not a cannibal. I hope.' James said, sitting down on her bed. He picked up Loopy, Lily's teddy and started a conversation with him. 

Remus and Sirius looked at each other with amused expressions on their faces. 

'It's the lack of food,' Sirius said.

'We hope.' Remus added. 

Meanwhile, Lily was downstairs arguing with her mother.

'Lily Cooper! What are you doing, hiding boys in your room? You're fifteen years old!' 

'I _know_ that. They just…Appeared. On brooms. You can check if you like.'

'I will.' Her mother replied frostily, and she stomped up the stairs, with Lily and Petunia on her heels. Lily was biting her nails, Petunia, pretending not care, was filing her nails. 

Mrs Cooper swung the door open, and James, Remus and Sirius smiled at her. She gasped, and Lily groaned. 

'Hello, Mrs Cooper,' James said politely. He caught sight of Petunia and pulled a face. She narrowed her eyes and flounced out the room. 

'Hello boys. Are you friends of Lily's?' 

'Yup.' Sirius and Remus said.

'Sort of.' James said. 

'Oh, hello James,' Mrs Cooper said, recognising him.

'See, we thought Lily might be bored. So we came to visit her. Hope you don't mind.' Sirius smiled charmingly at her, and she laughed. 

'You must be hungry. Come on down, I'll cook you something.' She left the room cheerfully, happy they were normal boys. Sort of normal, anyway. At least they didn't pierce their ears. Or dye their hair blue. What kids did these days, she thought sighing. 

Sirius and Remus walked slowly down the stairs, looking at everything. They'd never been in a muggle house before. James had spent two weeks there already though, and wasn't fussed. He and Lily leapt down the stairs, two at a time, determined to beat each other to the kitchen. 

'They'd be good brother and sister to each other.' Sirius commented. 'They already have the rivalry, make them related and you could call it sibling rivalry. The annoying thing about this is there's nothing you can call it.'

'Besides enemies, rivals, or a couple of hundred other things.' Remus said off handedly, admiring a painting on the wall. 

'Yeah, well, nothing intelligent.' 

They entered the kitchen to find James talking to Lily's mother about something at school, and Lily glowering at him, and then at her mother whenever she laughed. 

They talked about quite a few things that night, Mrs Cooper noticed the time at about 10 o'clock. 

'Oh my goodness,' She said in surprise. 'Your parents must be worried sick.' 

'Nah,' James said. 'We told my dad we might be late. See you.' 

He turned to Lily. 

'Are you going to Diagon alley?' She nodded. 

'We might see you there then. Bye.' 

They went into the living room, and Lily followed. James pulled a bag of Floo powder out his pocket, and threw it into the fire. 

'Aberdene!' he said, and disappeared from sight. Petunia, who had been watching television, screamed. 

'MUM! HE JUST DISAPPEARED INTO THE FIRE! _MUM_!' She howled.

Lily laughed, and Remus and Sirius left a moment after. 

Lily lay in bed a few nights after, staring out her window. It was a cloudy night, so she rolled over and stared at the wall. She couldn't sleep. So far, she'd tried everything, counting sheep, counting elephants, and counting fire-breathing salamanders. That _almost_ put her to sleep, but then one set fire to her bed (in her imagination), and she was wide-awake again.

She tried to think about boring things. 

Petunia, History of magic, ten-pin bowling, but nothing seemed to work. Her mind kept drifting off. 

When she thought about Petunia, she remembered how her older sister had sent James love-letters. That cracked her up, and she had to run downstairs to get a drink of water. 

When she thought history of magic, she remembered how James had exploded a firecracker, and scared Professor Binns so badly they thought he'd died again.

She thought about ten-pin bowling, and _didn't_ think about James. 

For a moment. 

But his blue eyes kept appearing in her head, and she bounced out of bed, and ran into Petunia's room, breathing hard. Her sister was reading a book, sniffing, and didn't even notice Lily run in. So she crept quietly out and crawled into bed again 

She was going to Diagon Alley the next day, to get her school supplies. She fell asleep, thinking about this, and slept contentedly all night. Almost. She woke up at midnight after one of the old nightmares. She ran downstairs, turned on the living room light, and fell asleep on the couch. 

When Petunia asked her why she was there the next day, she couldn't remember a thing. 

She met up with James, Sirius, Remus and Peter the next day at Diagon alley, and they got all their school stuff together. 

Lily, Remus, Sirius and James all needed new robes; their old ones were far too small. Peter hadn't grown an inch, which was just one thing he complained about during the day.

They got new books, and Remus had money to buy an animal. He wanted an owl, but while they were in the shop, he fell in love with a kitten. _Apparently_ it was a kitten, Lily said it looked like a small version of a baby lion. Only more fierce. 

Remus cuddled it for the rest of the day, even when animals weren't allowed in one shop, he sat outside with it. He had called it Crookshanks. James liked it, and even held him for awhile. Lily wasn't exactly fond of cats, but since she could see Remus was madly in love with this furball, she made an effort to be nice to it.

Peter detested cats. He hated this one as well. He called it names, and even Lily started sticking up for Crookshanks. 

They were sitting around in the Leaky Cauldron, eating lunch, and Lily and James found themselves sitting alone together. 

Remus was outside with Crookshanks (he'd eaten a magic rat on the counter), Sirius had run to get something at a shop that was closing, and Peter had disappeared again. 

'He does that a lot, doesn't he.' James commented, and she nodded. For some extremely demented reason, she couldn't speak. 

__

Get yourself together! She scolded herself crossly. _It's James, remember? James Potter_. _He hates you, and you hate him. _She nodded to herself, and he stared at her. 

'You okay?' 

'Huh?' She said intelligently. 

'Nothing,' James went back to slurping his soup, and Lily imitated him.

He laughed. 'What're you doing?' 

'Eating. But you've put me off,' she said with a grin. 

He poked his tongue out, and Lily smiled to herself. 

__

Good. Things are back to normal. She snuck a look at him. _He has nice eyes- stop it!_

Things were almost normal when they got to school. Voldemort hadn't been up to much, something everyone was grateful for.

Lily and James had gone back to fighting with each other; which two people especially were happy about. (Namely, Severus and Sirius.)

It was in potions, Lily and James were still partners. They were arguing over which type of beetle to use. They didn't notice Severus Snape creep up behind them, deserting Sirius. 

'Lovely day for a fight,' he drawled. 

Lily spun around, and knocked James into their cauldron with her arm. He sat drenched, with his hair plastered all over his face, neat for once. He spat some water out and glared at them. 

Lily and Severus were laughing to hard to help him, but even if they were stable, they probably wouldn't have anyway. 

Sirius saw his friend, giggled for a moment, and then stuck out his hand to help James. 

' Hey, James,' Lily said between laughing fits. 'You look like something the cat dragged in on a rainy day!' She fell down in a heap of giggles. 

James made sure he dripped on her on his way out.

Severus walked up to Lily at lunchtime. She looked warily up at him; you could never tell whether he was going to do something drastic, or behave normally. He smiled at her, and she decided he was up to something. 

'So, how's your boyfriend?' 

She stared at him blankly. 'Boyfriend?' 

'_James.'_ Severus said, like a two-year-old would know that. 

'He's not my boyfriend.' Lily said crossly. Severus kept talking, but she ignored him and counted the peas in her pie. That put her off her food, as she hated peas almost as much as carrots. 

'Goodbye Severus,' she said as she pushed past him. 

He followed her. 'So James _isn't_ your boyfriend?' 

'_No_.' She said, exasperated. 

'Oh. I thought he was.' 

Lily rolled her eyes. 'I _figured_ that. But we're not, so get lost.'

'Don't you want to know _why_ I thought you were a couple?' 

Lily sighed, realised she wasn't going to shake him off without listening and said 'why?' 

'It's obvious, the way you're always fighting with each other.'

'That _could_ be because we _don't_ like each other. Did that thought enter your thick mind? Or don't you have one?' She was losing her patience. 

He glared at her and walked away, humming a song under his breath. Lily suspected it was the wedding march tune and if he hadn't turned the corner already, she would have knocked his front teeth out. 

She would have knocked _all_ his teeth out.

James was coming in from Quidditch practise later that night, and bumped into Severus. 

'What d'you want, Snape?' He asked. He was cold, tired and wet. But pleased with the way practise had gone. 

'Well, I was talking to Lily today-'

'Not a pleasant experience, is it?' 

Severus glanced at James with an amused expression plastered on his face.

'What?' he asked, not in the mood to play games.

'I asked her if you were her boyfriend, and she said no. I was checking to see if she was telling the truth. 

'Why wouldn't she be?' James snapped. 

'Just because,' Severus said in a singsong voice. 

'Because why?'

'Well, you're always around each other. And you look so cute together, don't you reckon?'

James turned to face Snape. 'I always knew you were a nutcase; this just proves my theory. Goodbye.'

Severus watched James go, and he smiled to himself. 'Well, that was fun.' He murmured and walked off to the Slytherin dungeons. 

For the next few weeks, both James and Lily avoided each other. Severus saw this and laughed to himself, pleased. 

Then one night, James and Sirius grabbed the invisibility cloak and snuck down the boys' staircase. Peter was asleep and they didn't bother to wake him up; he always got scared wandering around at night time. 

They were almost at the portrait, when a voice spoke up, and make them both leap in fright. 

'Going out tonight, boys?' 

Lily. 

'What are you doing up?' Sirius hissed. 

'Nothing. So, where are we going this time?' 

'Nowhere.' 

'Yeah, right.' She walked over to them and grabbed the invisibility cloak off James before he realised what she was doing. He reached for it, but she danced out of his reach, laughing quietly at the expression on his face. 

'If you let me come, I'll give you the cloak.' 

'No way.' James and Sirius said in unison. 

'O_ka-ay_.' Lily disappeared; she had wrapped the cloak around herself, and was invisible. 

James and Sirius looked at each other helplessly. 

'All right, you can come.' Sirius said, looking around the room; he didn't know where she was.

'Goody.' Lily said. She was right behind them. 

She handed them the cloak, and they all slipped under it. Lily was standing in the middle, trying not to step on Sirius's feet. She didn't particularly care if she stepped on James's. 

The crept down to the library, and Sirius whispered something to Lily. 

'We need more books on animagi. The potions nearly ready.'

'Really?' Lily said, and she forgot to whisper in her surprise. 

'Shut up!' They muttered, opening the door. 

James lit a candle after they took off the cloak, and the three of them sat reading quietly for about half an hour, jumping at every little sound. 

'When are you going to try it?' Lily whispered after awhile.

'Next week,' James said. 

'Oh. Can I watch?' James started to say no, but Sirius interrupted. 

'Yup.' 

James glared at him, and Sirius said ' Well, we need someone to watch, in case something goes wrong. Which it won't,' he added. 

James shrugged and went back to the book he was reading.

When they had everything they needed, Sirius handed the other two the cloak, and said in a whisper 'I'll go back to the common room, you get food.'

Lily looked at James. 'Food?' 

'He means from the kitchens,' James explained and turned to Sirius. 'Why don't you come?' 

'Oh,' Sirius said loftily. 'I thought you and Lily should spend some time alone.'

James raised his eyebrows. 'Why would you think that?' 

'Well it's obvious that you like each other. You just need time to sort this out.' He raced out the room before James could do anything drastic. Like murder. 

Lily sat at a table, burrowing her nose in a book, in an attempt to hide her red face. James laughed. 

'Most people like to read their books with the words up the right way,' He said with a grin, and gently turned the book up the right way. 

Lily turned redder, if that was possible and said 'It's more interesting that way.' 

'So, you coming to the kitchens?' 

'Guess I don't have much choice.' She put her book back on the shelf and James covered her in the invisibility cloak with him. 

They snuck down to the kitchen, and pushed the door open quietly. It was empty, not that it really mattered, since they were invisible. 

As James piled little cakes into a bag, he spoke to Lily, careful to keep his voice down. 

'So, do you like me?' 

Lily dropped the orange she was holding, and picked it up hastily, knocking over a pan. 

They stood still, waiting for Filch to come running in, screaming. But he didn't, and they breathed a sigh of relief. 

'Do you?' 

'What?' Lily asked, turning away; she knew exactly what he was talking about. 

'Like me?' 

'No.' She answered, just a little too quickly. 

'Why's that?' he asked with a grin, coming over to where she was standing. She dropped the orange again, and crawled under the table to find it. James followed, and they knocked heads. 

'OW!' James sat rubbing his head, and Lily bumped her head again on the table leg. 

They heard footsteps and froze, silent. James grabbed the cloak, and threw it over them. He could hear her breathing deeply, and he patted her hand. 

The person entered the room, James held his breath, and since he couldn't hear Lily any more, he guessed she had too. 

He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and waited for the person to look under the table and pull the cloak off them. It was impossible for them to not be able to hear it. It was like a drum. Thump, thump, thump. He took a deep breath quietly, grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her out from under the table. They tiptoed silently out the room, and then ran for the common room. James helped Lily in through the portrait, still holding her hand. 

Sirius was waiting, and grinned at them, pleased with himself. 

James and Lily realised at the same time they were still holding hands, let go, and out of the corner of his eye, James thought he saw Lily grin. 

'Have fun?' Sirius asked cheekily. 

'We almost got caught.' 

'Oh well. You didn't.' 

'Thanks for the sympathy,' Lily said, but they could tell she wasn't mad. She went up the girl's staircase and Sirius turned to James.

'So. What happened? Did you kiss her?' James stared at his friend. 

'Why would I kiss her? Okay, she's pretty, but she's my friend. Sort of,' he added hastily. 

'She is pretty, isn't she?' James's eyes almost popped out of his head as Sirius put on a dreamy expression. 

Sirius laughed. 'Just kidding. She's all yours.' 

James glared at him. 'Get lost, Sirius. I don't like her, okay?' 

'You do too.' Sirius said, and before James could say anything, he ran up to their dorm. 

James collapsed into a chair and sighed. 

The most annoying thing about what Sirius had said, was that it was true, in a way. 

__

Get real, James. She doesn't like you, and even she does, she'll never admit it. Get over her. 

He fell asleep soon after, and dreamed of something strange. A woman was singing a song in a soft, sweet voice. The voice was familiar somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

__

Hush little baby, don't say a word, Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring. 

He woke up in a sweat, with a face looking over him. 

'Wha-?' He said sleepily, trying to focus on the face in front of him. 

They had green eyes, red hair, and were smiling. 

'Hello, Mr Potter. Had a nightmare?' 

Lily. 

James felt his heart try to leap out of his chest, and scolded it to get back down. 

'Maybe. Why're you up?' 

'Couldn't sleep. What did you dream?' She actually seemed to care, and that surprised him. 

'Don't worry about it.' He muttered. 

'Wasn't going to,' she said with a grin. He poked his tongue out, and she laughed. 

'I'll sing you to sleep,' she said, still smiling.

'Great.' He muttered. 'Rock songs?' 

She rolled her eyes, and started to sing. 

'Hush little baby, don't say a word, Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.' 

She had beautiful voice. 

'Why are staring at me?' She asked suddenly, bringing him out of a trance. 

'That song was in my dream.' He said quietly. 

'_What_?' Lily said, shocked. 

'That song was in my dream.' He repeated, wondering why this mattered. 

She stared at him for a moment. 'Please tell me that you're joking.' She whispered. 

'No. Why?' 

Lily looked terrified. 'Don't worry about it.' 

'But I am worried, Lily. Why are you so scared?' 

She looked at him for a moment, grinned prettily, and ran out the common room and to her dorm. 

James sat puzzled, wondering what was wrong with her. She had gone crazy. Completely bonkers. 

Lily didn't speak to him about the song the next day, so he pretended it didn't happen. He didn't tell Sirius. Somehow, he didn't think it would matter. 

So, they went back to hating each other. He couldn't tell if she really did hate him, or if she was just pretending. 

The funny thing though was, that while he did like her a bit, it wasn't hard to fight with her. 

Maybe it was because it had just become habit, maybe because she really did make him mad sometimes. But it was sort of a joke now, while they really hadn't even been friends before. 

Lily went home for the Christmas holidays, and she sat on the train with Remus, who was going home as well.

They talked about school for awhile, and then laughed about Severus. Then Remus brought up the subject of James.

'Do you really hate him?' he asked curiously.

Lily considered this. 'I don't _hate_ him- through no fault of his own- but he does make me mad.'

'I can see why. 'Hey Lily, is your hair really made out of carrots, or did you just mix them in?' 

He imitated what James had said the day before during potions. 

Lily laughed, not at what James had said, but because she remembered what she'd answered. 

'James, I have a joke for you. There are two pigs, and they come across a fence. How do they get past it?' 

'Over the fence.'

'No, too high,'

'Under the fence.'

'No, too rocky.'

'I dunno, I give up.'

'Yeah. So did the other pig.' 

James had chased her around the room with his wand, trying to burn her hair off.

Hogwarts express pulled into the station, and Lily and Remus hopped off together. She waved goodbye and ran over to her mother, grinning. Petunia was there, with a scowl on her face.

'Waiting for James?' She teased, ducking as Petunia tried to slap her. 

'No. Mother made me come.'

'Mother how could you?' Lily said in a posh voice, delighted Petunia was in a bad mood. It was more fun that way. She still wished they could be friends, but it was Petunias' choice they weren't. 

On the way home, Lily talked about school the entire way, with Petunia glaring at her. She told her mum about everything, how they had gone to Hogsmeade and seen a unicorn in the forest (she didn't tell her it was called the forbidden forest), how Sirius had turned Severus's hair blue, and no one could change it back. 

Petunia interrupted. 'Do you ever do _work_ at your school?' 

'What d'you mean?' 

'Like math , English, _normal_ subjects.'

'I don't go to a normal school, sister dear.' 

Petunia glowered at her, and Lily went back to talking to her mother. 

On Christmas day, their cousins came over. Mary, Katrina, Davie and Matt, with their Aunt and Uncle. 

Lily woke up early, and ran into her sister's room. 

'Wake up! Get _up_, Lazy bones!' 

Petunia groaned, and rolled over in bed. 'I'm too old for Christmas.' She mumbled. 

'Fine with me, I'll have your presents.' She ran out the room again, and leapt down the stairs, missing the last six steps altogether. 

Her parents were already sitting in kitchen, cooking breakfast. Actually, her mother was just setting the table, while her father cooked. Mrs Cooper was hopeless at cooking, although she often tried to make pancakes. They usually came out looking like scrambled eggs without the yoke. 

'Lily!' Mrs Cooper scolded her. 

'What?' She was puzzled. 

What'd she done now? She'd made her bed, besides, even if she hadn't, how would her mum know?

'Patrick and Lucy and the kids will be here soon. Get dressed!' 

Lily groaned, and her mother frowned. 'Okay, okay. I'm going.'

She'd forgotten all about them coming. Mary was a thirteen year old brat, although Lily supposed she was probably fourteen now, and worse. Katrina was cute, but she was always crying. Davie was her age, fifteen, but the last time he'd come over , he only spoke about books. 

He was obsessed. In a bad, bad way. He liked reading about princesses, which she supposed was because he couldn't get girls, due to the fact his head was always hidden behind a book. 

She did like Matt though, he was sixteen and the nicest out of her cousins. 

As she got dressed, she planned out how she was going to hide from Mary, and then walked slowly down the stairs, poking her head into Petunias room to ask if she could still have all her presents. 

When she entered the kitchen, she found her relatives had already arrived. Mary was whining about her nails; they were too short and stubby, although from where Lily was standing, it looked like they were sharper than lions' claws. 

Matt had fallen asleep on a chair, with his head resting on the table, Davie was reading and Katrina was sucking on her thumb and looking through a picture book. Lily pulled a face, hoping Katrina wasn't going to turn out like Davie. 

Mary looked up and smiled nastily and Lily was strongly reminded of Petunia. Matt snored away, Davie looked up, nodded as if to acknowledge her existence, and Katrina glanced up and ran over to her. 

'Lily! Lily!' She shrieked, and Lily remembered how Katrina had idolised her the year before. It was cute, yet extremely annoying. 

Aunt Lucy and Uncle Patrick turned around and smiled at her. 

'My, you've grown!' Aunt Lucy said, and Lily did her best to smile. She had grown a bit, but she hated it when adults said this. 

'And where is our darling Petunia this beautiful morning?' Uncle Patrick boomed. 

'Our darling Petunia is too old for Christmas. She said I could have her presents.' Lily didn't dare to look in her mother's eye. It would have meant instant death, at least this way she might last until evening. 

Petunia appeared later that day, with make-up plastered all over her face in case Matt's friends had decided to come like the year before. She was disappointed to find he sat alone, but made sure lots of pictures were taken. 

Lily managed to escape after lunch, and she crept right up to her room. She sat reading for awhile, until she heard a knock on the door. She shoved the book under her pillow and opened the door, peeking her head around to see who it was. Matt. She breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door, checking Mary wasn't going to run in after him.

He sat on her bed, and smiled broadly. 'So, cousin Lily. How's life been treating you?'

'Okay.' She answered. 

'Just okay?' 

'Yup. How 'bout you?' 

'It's good. Bit boring. 'Just wait until you're my age, the work's awful.' 

Lily choked back a laugh. 'My school's a bit different to your's I think.' 

'_Oh_. The strange school. Petunia told me.' 

Lily felt panic rising. They weren't allowed to tell muggles, even nice muggles like Matt that the magical world existed. 

'What-' she swallowed and started again. 'What did she tell you?' 

'Just that it was for weirdos. I asked why she wasn't going there too.' 

Lily laughed; relieved. Petunia wouldn't want anyone with cute friends to know Lily was a witch. 

They went downstairs again to open the presents. Mary got so much nail polish, it would last her until she was twenty, but she didn't seem too happy. 'I wanted coral, mum_, coral_. You gave me blue, green, aqua, but I wanted _coral_. Can't you get _anything_ right?' 

Lily rolled her eyes. She'd opened almost all her presents, while her cousins were only a quarter of the way through their piles. 

There were only five presents left, all of them fairly small. 

She opened the largest of them first, ripped of the paper, and out fell a beautiful book, with gold lettering imprinted on the front. She grinned, and hid it under some paper so Davie wouldn't get a glimpse of it. She doubted he'd want to try the spells; but you never knew with muggles. Or wizards, for that matter. She read the tag and grinned. 

__

To Lily

Hope your Christmas was extremely boring

Love,

James. 

There was a bag from Remus; she'd been complaining about how uncomfortable her book-bag was. Some ingredients for some spells from Sirius; she guessed he'd been talking James. Peter didn't send anything, not that she really cared. She hadn't sent him anything either. 

Holly sent her a cute little toy dog, she knew that Lily loved dogs, but wasn't allowed to have one. 

There was one box left, and Lily looked at it curiously, trying to imagine who it was from. She had quite a few friends at school, but she doubted they'd send her a Christmas present. She tore off the wrapping, and a little box fell into her lap. It was a lavender colour, and smelled sweet as well. Like lavender. The box had little flowers floating around it; lilies breezing across the sky. 

It was magic. 

She opened the box carefully, and something sparkled in the light. Something else jumped into her lap and she grinned. A little frog. She slipped it into her pocket before Mary could use it to test the nail polish on, and looked inside the box. A necklace with a delicate silver chain lay on a piece of shiny material. A glass pendant hung from with end of it, with a miniature flower enclosed inside the glass. It was beautiful. She sat and stared at it for a moment, then checked for a note or a card. Nothing. 

Lily frowned. Who could it be from? Not her parents, unless they had suddenly acquired magical powers, which she doubted. Not her cousins, not Petunia; it must be someone from school. 

Who would send her something as nice as this? She racked her brains, but couldn't come up with anything. All her close friends had sent her something. She sighed, and Matt looked over at her. 

'Wow!' he said when he saw the necklace. 'Who's that from?' She shrugged

Mary saw it and frowned, jealous. 'Is that for _you_?' She asked, obviously hoping there'd been a mistake. 

Lily nodded. It had had her name on it. 

Soon everyone was crowding around her, admiring the necklace. 'You going to put it on?' Mary asked. 'Cause if you're not, I'll have it. You can have my art set.' 

Lily glared at her. 'I don't think so, sweetheart.' She slipped it over her head; it fit perfectly. That didn't surprise her, it was obviously magic. They all oohed, and aahed, and then remembered they all still had presents to open. 

Later that night, when all her cousins had gone home, Lily lay in bed toying with her necklace. It was so weird. She was trying to guess who bought it, when Petunia came banging in. 

'Have you ever heard of knocking?' Lily asked in exasperation, she'd been having an imaginary conversation. 

Petunia dismissed this comment, and Lily saw her sister's face was extremely pale. She was shaking. "What?' Lily asked. 'Toady hasn't gotten into your room, has he?' 

Petunia stared at her, confused. 'Huh? Who's Toady?' 

So Toady hadn't escaped. She breathed a sigh of relief. 'What do you want?' 

There was a loud bang, louder than anything Lily had ever heard in her entire life. It shook the house, and they heard footsteps running up the hall. Petunia gasped, and ran to the window. 

She started to climb out, and Lily watched her, still in shock. 'Hurry _up_.' Petunia hissed. Lily climbed after automatically, stumbled on a vine at the bottom, and Petunia dragged her into the bushes where there was a gap in the leaves. The two girls used to play there when they were little, it had been their hide out. 

Except when they used to play there it had been quiet and peaceful, with the birds flying overhead. They would have tea parties, and play board games. 

But now they were two teenagers, terrified and hiding in the dark. 

'What is going on?' Lily whispered, doing her best to breathe quietly. 

Petunia took a deep breath. 'When you went upstairs after Uncle Patrick and Aunt Lucy left, I was talking to Mum and Dad in the kitchen. Then there was a knock on the door. I was curious, because I mean, who knocks on your door at 10 o'clock on Christmas night? So I answered the door. There were three men, I _think_ they were men, and they were standing in a row.'

'What'd they say?' 

'Is Lily Cooper here?'

'Yes,' Lily said, getting impatient. 

'_No._' Petunia hissed. 'That's what they said. Then Mum and Dad came to the door, and I could hear the people asking for you still. So I went up there to tell you. And then there was that big bang.'

Lily stared at her sister in the darkness, bits of moonlight shining down on her face. 'What were they wearing?' 

Petunia glared at her. 'What does it matter? They've probably killed Mummy and Daddy, and it's _all your fault!'_

Lily's eyes stung with tears. 'I need to know, Petunia.'

Petunia was gulping in air, tears streaming down her thin cheeks. 'Black cloaks, okay?, black cloaks! That's how I know it's _your_ fault. Normal killers wouldn't wear _that_ stuff. I should've let you die!'

Something croaked at their feet. Petunia opened her mouth to scream, and Lily clapped her hand over Petunia's mouth. 'It's just Toady.' She whispered, and to the frog she said 'hello, Mr. How are you?' 

Petunia let out a strangled scream, unheard in the sirens wailing nearby. 'You're worried about a slimy _frog_, when our parents are _dead_?' She spat angrily. 

Lily sat down and hugged her knees to her chest, stroking Toady. Petunia sat down as well, and the two girls sat silently. 

'Remember how we used to play witches in here?' Lily asked, struggling not to cry. 

Petunia nodded. 

'I'm _really sorry_.' She wailed suddenly. 'I didn't want this to happen! It's Voldemort, he's done this!' 

Petunia watched as her sister broke down into sobs, and patted her awkwardly on the arm. 

The sound of leaves crunching came closer and closer, Lily and Petunia huddled along the back wall of their cubby, holding their breath. 

'Girls?' A friendly voice said. 

Lily peered out the branches and saw their next door neighbour, Mr Thompson. She nodded to Petunia and they crawled out, dirty from sitting on the ground, their faces streaked with tear marks. 

He sighed with relief, and hugged them, smiling. 'Oh, thank god!' He said, and Lily could tell he was crying. 

'We thought you were dead! You poor, poor girls.' 

He patted their heads, and led them out to the front footpath. A large crowd had gathered and they were all staring at the Coopers house. It lit up the night with bright orange flames, crackling and spitting. 

With her parents in there. Lily struggled away from Mr Thompson's grip, and raced towards the fire, she had to find her parents. The crowd gasped. 

'Lily! LILY!' Mr Thompson chased after her, for an old guy he was pretty fast. He grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her back from the flames. She sobbed into his top and he hugged her. 

Petunia just watched the whole thing. 

__

Lily didn't deserved to be hugged. _She_ should be comforted. She should be cuddled, and loved. It was _Lily's_ fault. If she hadn't gone away to that _school_, they would still have parents. She glared at her younger sister with hatred, anger building up inside her. When Lily collapsed, she didn't run over to see if she was okay. She sat down weakly, shaking from the cold night air. 

She _hated_ her. 

*****

Lily woke up in a white room and stared around. It was impeccably clean, with rock star posters plastered all over the walls. Sunlight streamed out onto her pillow.

Where was she? 

And then it all came flooding back, the fire, the people, Petunia, her parents. Her parents. She sat up quickly, jumped out of bed and ran out the door in a pair of pyjamas. They weren't hers, and she wondered if she was having some weird sort of nightmare. 

But falling down doesn't hurt in dreams, and as Lily picked herself up she figured it was real. She could hear voices coming from a room at the end of the hallway, and she walked into a kitchen where three adults were sitting. 

They all had very grim faces, but smiled when Lily entered the room. 

'How are you, sweetie?' One of them had the nerve to ask.

'My back hurts, my head hurts, my legs hurt, and altogether I don't feel great, how about you?' 

The people exchanged worried glances. 

'Where are my parents?' Lily asked.

'Lily, I know this might come as a shock to you, but-'

'They're dead, aren't they?' Lily said, more as statement than a question. 

They nodded. 'I'm so sorry, I can't begin to imagine how awful this must be for you,' a lady with blonde hair said.

Lily stared at her, with tears filling up in her eyes and blurring her vision.

'That's right. You can't.' She ran out the room and out the front door, to see where she was. 

Across the street was a blackened house. Her house. She walked slowly over to it, and stepped over the barrier the police had put up. She climbed the stairs that had bits of timber all over them, and walked down the hallway to her room. She pushed open the door, to find the fire hadn't touched her bedroom. The walls were a bit black, but her things were okay.

Her broom, her books, her photo album. She collapsed in a heap and stared around her miserably. 

After collecting all her stuff, she carried it back across the road and closed her self into the rock poster room, and shut the door. 

She flipped through her photo album, not really looking at the pictures. There was a knock on the door. They didn't wait for her to answer, just walked in and sat on the bed quietly. She pretended they weren't there and started reading her favourite muggle book, Through the Looking Glass. 

__

'The time has come,' the Walrus said

'To talk of many things

Of shoes - and ships - and ceiling-wax,

Of cabbages - and kings

And why the sea is boiling hot

And whether pigs have wings'

A tear slipped down Lily's cheek, and she became aware that the woman was talking to her. 

'You'll be staying with your cousins, of course, you'll be able to go to school with them as 

well-'

Lily's head snapped up. 'No! I have to go back to Ho- _my_ school.' 

The lady sighed. 'Are you sure? You don't have to.' 

'Of course I'm sure.' She snapped, and went back to reading. 

__

'But wait a bit,' the Oysters cried,

'Before we have our little chat;

For some of us are out of breath,

And all of us are fat!'

'No hurry!' cried the Carpenter

They thanked him very much for that.

'A loaf of bread,' the Walrus said,

'Is what we chiefly need:

Pepper and vinegar besides

Are very good indeed-

Now, if you're ready, Oysters dear,

We can begin to feed.'

'But not on us!' The Oysters cried,

Turning a little blue.

'After such kindness that would be 

A dismal thing to do!'

'The night is fine,' the Walrus said.

'Do you admire the view?'

'It was so kind of you to come,

And you are very nice!'

The Carpenter said nothing but

'Cut us another slice.

I wish you were not quite so deaf-

I've had to ask you twice!'

'It seems a shame,' the Walrus said,

'To play them such a trick,

After we've brought them out so far,

And made them trot so quick!'

The Carpenter said nothing but

'The butter's spread too thick!'

'I weep for you,' the Walrus said

'I deeply sympathise.'

With sobs and tears he sorted out

Those of the largest size,

Holding his pocket-handkerchief

Before his streaming eyes. 

'O Oysters,' Said the Carpenter,

'You've had a pleasant run!

Shall we be trotting home again?'

But the answer came there none-

And this was scarcely odd, because

They'd eaten everyone. 

Lily laughed at the nonsense poem, and was soon hysterical. She was laughing and crying at the same time, tears pouring town her cheeks, making her exhausted. 

She fell asleep on the floor, and dreamt her parents were alive.

*****

A few weeks later, she met up with Remus at Kings Cross Station. He grinned and waved, and she smiled and waved back. But when she got closer, Remus saw she wasn't the same girl he'd been friends with before. Something was missing; her bright green eyes were missing their usual spark.

'You okay?' he asked, concerned.

She nodded weakly. 

'Come on, let's go. I expect James'll be lonely without me. No one to tease him.' She sighed dramatically, and Remus grinned. 

'I reckon Snape hates him almost as much as you do.'

'That can't be possible!' Lily said, in mock horror. 'I hate him more than anyone, I'll fight Snape for that privilege if I have to.'

Remus laughed, and she grinned. She'd almost forgotten already about her holidays. Almost.

Lily and Remus climbed through the portrait hole together, and bumped into James and Sirius immediately. They were on their way out somewhere. 

When they saw Lily and Remus though, they stayed for awhile, and told them about the holidays. 

First it was the usual stuff, what they'd done to Snape, how many times they'd blown something up, how many detentions they'd had. 

Then James turned serious.

'Voldemort's doing more and more. He killed the Prewetts, you know Lisa Prewett? That fourth year Ravenclaw?' They all nodded. 

'She died.'

Lily felt sick. 

'And there's a rumour he tried to kill a family of muggles, but no one can figure out why. He killed the parents, but the muggle sister and a witch survived.'

Lily needed to sit down. She realised she _was_ sitting down, rested her head on the cushions, feeling a little green.

They boys looked at her. 'What's wrong?' 

Lily shook her head, and smiled. It was a huge effort, and she hoped they couldn't tell. 

'Nothing. I'm just tired. I think I'll go to bed.'

They watched as she got up slowly, and disappeared up the girl's staircase. James saw a tiny burn on her hand as she walked past him. It hadn't been there before.

*****

The next day, Lily was more herself. James still watched her closely, worried something bad had happened, but he tried not show it. 

Lily was managing to keep herself sane by concentrating on school. And playing tricks on James and his pals. She was his friend too (sort of), but after Christmas, she went back to playing with Holly and Laura. The only reason for this was because they weren't likely to notice if she was upset, or different, because they were more worried about their hair. It was depressing in a way, but she didn't want people feeling sorry for her. 

It was in a Charms lesson when all the feelings she'd been bottling up inside came flying out. 

James was feeling cheerful, and danced around the classroom before professor Flitwick arrived. He was waltzing with all the girls (and boys) but when he got to Lily, she was absorbed in a book about animagi. He asked her politely to dance (dah-ling Lily, may I have this dance?)

She shook her head, which made him even more determined to get her to stand up. 

'Puh-lease? I'll do anything for you.' 

She ignored him.

'If you don't, I'll write to your mother and tell her you've been a naughty girl.' He teased.

Lily saw red, grabbed the nearest thing closest to her, which was her book, and whacked him with it. 

'Ow! What was that for?' he said angrily, holding his nose to stop the blood dripping on the floor. 

'My mother is dead, Potter! Okay?' The entire class stood in shock, James the most shocked at all.

'Why didn't you say something?' He asked softly. She shrugged. 

'I didn't want to.'

'We would've helped, you know.' 

Lily looked down, and felt her cheeks go pink. She looked up again and saw James was still watching her.

'Sorry about your nose.' She whispered, and ran out the room. 

Professor Flitwick walked into the room and bumped into James Potter, who was rushing out. 

He watched him race down the hallway, and then walked into the classroom in a daze, shaking his head.

'Right. Today we will be starting Hover charms-' The professor squeaked this sentence out, and then stopped. No one was actually listening, and professor Flitwick sighed, sat down at his desk and had a quick snooze. 

James ran through the corridor, looking for Lily. He saw a red-headed figure running out across the snow outdoors, and he pushed through the doors after her. 

'Lily!' he yelled. She stopped, turned around, then kept running again. 

He groaned, then had a brilliant idea. He ran to the broom shed and grabbed his broom, flew up into the sky, and looked for Lily. He saw her sitting on a log near Hagrids hut, her head in her arms. 

He flew down to the ground, stopping right behind her. 

'Hey.' 

She spun around and fell off the log. James couldn't help grinning as he helped her up, but his smile faded when he saw her face. 

Lily brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear, and looked at the ground. 'Why'd you follow me?'

'Because. You seemed sad.'

'You cared because?'

'I like you.' He snuck a look at Lily, and smiled when he saw she was shocked. 

'You hate me.' She corrected him.

'Why would I come out into the freezing cold to make sure someone I hated was okay?'

'Because you're strange?' She guessed.

James glared at her. 'I don't know why I bother.'

'With what?'

'You. I try to be nice-'

'You call me carrot.' She interrupted. 

'On rare occasions.' He said. 'But anyway, I can see we're never going to be friends, so why don't we just say goodbye.'

'_Goodbye_? Why goodbye? Can't we just go on hating each other in a friendly type way?'

James grinned, and sat down on his broom in front of her. 

'And why would you want to do that? Wouldn't it be easier for us to just ignore each other for the next two years?'

'_No_.'

'Then why, may I ask?'

'Because- because-' Lily couldn't think of a good reason, not one she wanted to say out loud, anyway.

'You like me.' James supplied, and she glared at him with red-rimmed eyes. 

'No. Just- because, okay? You are way too cocky. You're like a black-haired version of Peter Pan.' 

'_What?_' James said. He looked at her with a worried expression on her face, wondering whether Voldemort had done some damage to her brain.

Lily remembered he wouldn't have heard of Peter Pan. 'Don't worry about it. It's a story my mother-' she stopped suddenly, and looked at her feet. 

'It's a story my mother used to tell me.' She finished. 'When I was a little girl. A muggle fairy tale.'

James could see it hurt her to talk about it, and hugged her gently. When he let go, Lily looked at him, and for a moment she didn't see the boy who annoyed her with his games, and the boy she teased for fun. She saw someone kind, and funny and _cute_. She pulled a face, and James laughed. 

'Eat a pickle?' He said with a grin, and she tackled him down into the snow. 

'I hate to interrupt,' said a dry voice, and Lily looked up to Professor McGonagall frowning. 

She grinned, despite herself, and she almost felt like nothing had changed.

'Follow me.' They got up and James picked up his broom, motioning for Lily to climb on. Then he flew up ahead of McGonagall, yelling 'Last one's a rotten egg!'

Lily shrieked with laughter, and was just beginning to enjoy the ride, when they came to a stop. 'Have fun?' James asked, his cheeks red from the cold wind.

She nodded, and watched the Professor approach. They exchanged a glance and cracked up. Professor McGonagalls hat was lop-sided, and she was shaking her fist angrily. 

They sat in Dumbledores office, watching McGonagall talk to professor Dumbledore. 

'They left class to argue with each other!' She said furiously as Professor Dumbledore attempted to defend them. When she finally left, Dumbledore smiled at them. 

'Back again, my dears.' 

They nodded. 

'Well. Why did you leave class?'

James started to talk, but Lily got in first. 'Sir, I was upset about my parents, James was just being nice. I'm really sorry.' 

James grinned, pleased he wasn't going to get another detention that day. Filch had already cornered him for setting off a firecracker in Moaning Myrtle's toilet, and he had a detention that Friday. 

Professor Dumbledore smiled, looking immensely pleased about something. 

'Off you go. Actually, Miss Cooper, wait here for a moment.'

Lily sat down again, ignoring something James was trying to mouth to her. 

When he'd closed the door, Professor Dumbledore smiled. 'Lovely boy, isn't he?'

Lily looked at him. 'Guess so.' She wondered if Dumbledore had eaten something strange. Headmasters didn't usually keep a student back to tell them someone was a 'lovely boy.'

But he said she could go then, and Lily guessed they might. Dumbledore was a bit odd, anyway.

*****

__

Peter knocked on the door of his Masters house. 

'Enter.' A voice boomed, and he pushed open the door with trembling fingers. 

Master smiled eerily at him through the darkness.

When he didn't say anything, Peter went first. 'You- you tried to kill Lily, didn't you?'

'Clever guess, my boy.' 

'Why?' Peter asked curiously. He didn't really care if she died, but he was interested.

'Now, don't go worrying your pretty little head about that, boy. Let's just say she's not someone we want around.'

Peter nodded, but he wasn't happy with being told he had 'a pretty little head.' 

'I wonder if there's something you can do for me?' Master said, and Peter nodded eagerly.

'Yes, anything. Just say so, and I'll do it, you don't need to worry-'

'Shut up.' Master said impatiently. 'Do you what you can to get rid of her without getting noticed. We need everyone we can, don't want one of our best little spies getting caught out, do we?'

Peter left the room glowing, never had he received such a high compliment.

Voldemort watched Peter leave and grinned evilly to himself. 

'Pitiful.' He murmured.

*****

Lily, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter sat in Moaning Myrtles bathroom, getting the potion ready. 

Lily was stirring and adding bits to the liquid, talking about something with Sirius while she worked.

James and Remus were practising a the spell they needed to say, while Peter watched the whole thing, bored. 

'Can I do something?' he asked grumpily.

'You could take this out to the bin,' Lily suggested, giving him an innocent smile. 

He would have liked to do away with her there and then, but then the potion would be destroyed as well. he sighed, glared at her, and dumped the leftovers into a bin nearby and walked back into the toilets. 

Later that night, hidden under the invisibility cloak, the five Gryffindors snuck out the front hall carrying the potion. They had to stop a few times to wipe up puddles they'd spilled; no one could know about it. 

When they were finally in the trees, away from the windows or where anyone would come, and looked at each other. 

James licked his dry lips. 'I'll go first.'

He pulled a spoon out of the bag they had brought with them, and dipped it into the cauldron. He sipped it, pulled a face, and waited. And waited. Just when they were beginning to think nothing would happen, there was a loud pop, and instead of James there stood a large stag. It pranced around for a while; it seemed to being doing a little victory dance, which looked rather odd. 

This continued for a moment, and Lily and Sirius looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces. 

'D'you think he can change back?' Lily said, watching the stag. 

'Yeah. He's just showing off.'

The stag disappeared, and instead there stood James, with a huge smile on his face. 'I was _not_ showing off!' Then he remembered what he'd just done, and skipped around his friends with glee. 

'I did it, I did it!' He hugged Sirius, then grabbed Lily's hands and started to dance. When he had finally calmed down, Sirius took a sip of the potion and shuddered.

'Ew!' He said, pulling a face. But before he could say anything else, a large, black, shaggy dog stood in his place. He ran around them all, sniffing and barking. 

'We need a muzzle,' Lily said, wiping dog slobber of her hands onto her robes. 

When Sirius came back, he was ecstatic. 'Yay! We are the best! We are the best!' 

Lily rolled her eyes and handed the spoon to Remus, but to her surprise, he shook his head. 

'I'm not going to be one.' He said, looking a bit embarrassed. 

'Oh. That's okay, neither am I.'

'Wimp.' Peter muttered. Lily tripped him up, then handed him the spoon while he was still on the ground. 

He poked his tongue out, and she shoved the spoon into his mouth before he could say anything. He looked disgusted, opened his mouth to yell at Lily, and turned into a rat. 

Lily fell down laughing, Remus grinned, and Sirius picked Peter up by the tail.

'Hello, little Peter. Shall we call you Wormtail?'

When reappeared, he was miserable. Lily thought it was hilarious, and Sirius only called Peter Wormtail. James did his best to comfort the small boy, but he didn't want to be comforted.

*****

Lily, James, Remus, Peter and Sirius sat together in a compartment on the way home. Lily would have liked to stay, and even asked Dumbledore if she could, but he said no. 

So she wasn't very happy, but did her best to be cheerful. Sirius was trying to get all his homework done before the holidays 'so they'll be fun,' he explained. 

Peter was still sulking over the fact that he was a rat, Remus was daydreaming, and James was talking to Lily about the holidays. 

They dragged their bags and school stuff out the train, and went through the barrier to find their parents, or in Lily's case, her Aunt and Uncle. 

She saw Aunt Lucy waving frantically, sighed and dragged her trunk over to them. Holly waved, and Lily smiled at her, then followed Aunt Lucy to the van. Mary and Davie were sitting in it, though Lily couldn't figure out why Davie would want to come. She suspected he'd been talked into it, as he wasn't a holding a book, and seemed to be quite miserable. 

Lily had just closed her door when someone tapped on the window. It was James. 

She rolled it down and grinned at him. 'What?' 

'Just coming to say goodbye.'

'Goodbye.'

James grinned cheekily and whispered in her ear 'that necklace looks good on you. I couldn't decide which one to pick.' He kissed her on the cheek and disappeared into the crowd of Hogwarts students. 

Aunt Mary started the engine, and they drove off. 

Mary stared at Lily with her mouth wide open. 

'What?' She asked, afraid her cousin was going to drool on her pants. 

'He is _hot_.' Mary breathed. 'You lucky, lucky _thing_.'

Lily grinned. 

'I know.' 

The end to another part. *sobs* The next part's already written, so it'll be here soon. Very soon. 

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing- oh, except for Lily's family, last name, and friends. I can't wait till the fifth book. We finally hear about her. Good. 

Starlight. 

P.S. Be nice and review, won't you? Please? 

__


	6. Love letters, balls that wouldn't happen...

****

Thanks everyone for all the reviews…I feel so special *sniffs*. Umm…as I said before, I'm pretty bad at grammar, and I just don't get singular thingamajiggas. But I can do them in French…how strange. So, thanks for pointing that out, but I can't be bothered fixing it. (I'm a lazy person) so just yell at the screen if I've stuffed up, okay?

This is personally my favourite part. So I hope you like it. It's very long. I'm just warning you about that, okay? Right then. On with the story. 

****

The Flower and the Stag

Part 6

An old man was walking down a small street, not paying attention to his surroundings. Cars weren't common in this part of town, so he was left alone with his thoughts, listening to the birds. 

He was just passing a rather large house, when he heard some shrieks coming from around the back. He figured it was just some children playing under the hose, but all the same, he looked over from where he stood, not meaning to be nosy or anything. 

Two boys and girl were playing what looked like chasey, but it was in the _air._ He stared harder, but all of a sudden, they were gone. 

The man shook his head and continued walking slowly down the footpath. He eventually decided that his head must have been playing tricks on him. 

James peered into the bushes, talking crossly to a girl with dark brown hair. Sirius was tying his shoelaces, occasionally looking up to agree with James, or to stick up for Adrienne.

'It isn't _my_ fault.' She said grumpily, and bent down to help James look for the ball they had lost. 

'Okay, it isn't your fault. But you- there it is!'

He crawled out from under the bush, wiping dust off his knees and holding a tiny, sparkling ball in his hand. 

Adrienne appeared a moment later, fiddling with a stick that had found it's way into her ponytail. She walked over to James, and peered at the ball. 'See? It's okay. I told you it would be.' 

James glared at her, and walked inside with Sirius, who still hadn't managed to tie up his laces. 

James's dad was sitting in the living room, reading the daily prophet with a tired expression on his face. 

'What's that you've got there?' He asked when he saw James holding the shimmering ball so carefully. 

'Nothing.' He hurried past, covering the ball with his t-shirt. 

James and Sirius went into James's bedroom, closing the door behind them. Adrienne came in a moment later, a grumpy look on her face. 

'Why won't you let me hold it? I'm not a baby.' 

'I know that. Look it's Dads, okay? I found it. When we were looking for a ball to play Quidditch with.' 

'Oh. But it's just a ball.'

James sighed patiently. 'Adrienne, you better go to bed. It's late.' 

The younger girl gave him a look. 'It's four o'clock in the afternoon, twit. You call that late?' 

Sirius laughed, wondering what James was going to say to this. He didn't say anything, just steered her out the door, closed it behind him, and locked it gently. 

'Polite.' Sirius commented. 

'I needed to talk to you.' 

'Ooh. Hush, hush.' James glared at his friend, who had wrapped himself up in a ball. 

Sirius sprung out, not unlike a cat, and grinned. 'So. What's this about?' 

'She is driving me _crazy_.'

Sirius raised his eyebrows. '_That's_ important? Why didn't you just say it in front of her?' 

'Because. Dad'd kill me.'

'Why?' 

'Her mum and dad died. We're looking after her, because Dad's her guardian. Or something.' James shrugged his shoulders.

'Oh. She doesn't seem really sad.' Sirius looked at the door.

'I know. Strange, isn't it?'

'So. Should we feel sorry for her?'

'Dad said to act normal.'

'For you, that would mean tease her. Or at least pull her hair. Or throw food at her. Or-'

Sirius seemed to be ticking a list off on his fingers. 

'What is _that_ supposed to mean?'

'Well, in front of most girls, you aren't real polite.'

'That's because we hang around Lily, and we don't like Lily.'

'_You_ don't like Lily.' 

'I thought you didn't like Lily.'

'I never said that.' 

'Yes you did.' Sirius realised how stupid this was getting, and sighed. 'You don't really hate her, for Gods sake, you kissed the girl.'

James lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. 'I don't know. I get mad at her, but she's so funny sometimes, and sweet…' 

James trailed off and Sirius pulled a face. 'Lovesick.'

'I am _not_.' 

'Yes you are.' 

'Am not… And how did you know I kissed her?' '

'You _are_ lovesick… None of your business.' 

Adrienne sat quietly outside the door, listening intently. She fished around in her pocket and found Elyse. The doll sat limply in Adrienne's white hand, her cloth arms hanging over her palm. 

Her button eyes looked up blankly, staring at something no one else could see, her mouth curved up in a red smile. The dolls red hair hung down from her head, tied in tiny plaits; Adrienne had been bored on the ride over. 

She knelt down and brought Elyse up to her nose, sniffing the familiar smell of the cloth and sighed sadly. 

She pocketed the little doll and walked slowly away, humming a soft tune to herself. 

Sirius went home after a few days, and James was left by him self with Adrienne, and soon became rather bored. An eleven-year-old girl doesn't really provide much entertainment for a sixteen-year-old boy, and this fact became known quite soon. 

So, when Adrienne was out doing- James wasn't sure what- and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out (she'd dragged him into playing dolls with her twice). Anyway, he went to his room with some parchment and a quill, and he started writing a letter. 

When he had filled up a small piece of parchment, he stepped back, admired his handy work, and gave his letter to his owl, Pickles, to deliver. 

He watched Pickles fly off into the horizon, then tiptoed down the stairs, hoping to find some left over cheesecake with out running into Adrienne. 

A few hours away, Lily was doing her homework, well, trying to do her homework. She was having some difficulties. 

'You need three cups of frogspawn- no, wait, I think it's two.' She mumbled incoherently as she worked, and wasn't aware of the owl that flew in through her window. She noticed the owl quite soon though, as it grew bored and decided it should nip her. 

'Ouch!' She spun around. 'Yikes!' For the owl that was visiting was- green? 

She raised her eyebrows and picked up the letter, keeping her eye on the owl the whole time. It looked familiar, somehow, although she was pretty sure she'd never seen a green owl before. 

Lily ripped open the letter and a piece of parchment fell out. Her eyes widened as she read the contents of the letter, and she read, then re-read it again several times. After awhile, she sat down at her desk, pushed aside the potions essay she was supposed to do, and read the letter again (she was still basically in shock)

__

My Dearest Lily,

It is with great sorrow that I write this letter to you, as my heart is breaking in your absence. I hope your holidays are well? As you can guess, mine are awful. Though they might be better if you would grace me with your presence. 

Love always,

J. Potter

She stared at the page, grabbed a quill of her own, and started writing a reply. 

__

Dear Idiot (otherwise known as James) 

Are you insane?

Lily

P.S. Exactly what are you feeding your owl? It's green, in case you haven't noticed. 

She handed her letter to the owl gingerly, as she wasn't sure if a green owl would bite. It flew through the window and over the muggle gardens, causing plenty of shouts from little children bouncing on their trampolines. 

She rolled her eyes and sat down again, then realised the letter was still lying open for all to see. So she stuffed it in a little box next to her bed and sat down again, but now she couldn't concentrate. Trust James to send a green owl to deliver a love letter- love letter? She decided he must have eaten a strange pumpkin, or something, because he definitely wouldn't have sent her something like that in his right state of mind. But then again, that really wasn't saying much. 

Pickles entered the Potter house at midnight, but everyone was awake, which was unusual, as Mr Potter tried to get the kids to go to sleep early (habit). 

Adrienne and James were actually having a rather enjoyable game of Exploding Snap, and Mr and Mrs Potter were discussing something to do with the ministry, which neither James nor Adrienne understood. 

'Ha! I won!' Adrienne crowed after their fifth game (of which James had won four) 

'Pickles!' James exclaimed, as he grabbed the letter in his owls' beak. The other occupants of the room stared in disbelief at Pickles. 

'James?'

'Yeah?'

'What did you do to it?' 

'Huh? Oh, nothing.' He patted Pickles and disappeared up the staircase, letter in hand. 

He read Lily's letter and grinned, pleased with himself. Then he set to work on the next letter, biting the end of his quill as he wrote. It was a bit longer than the last one, but he grabbed Pickles from Adrienne (she thought he was cute) and sent him back again, nibbling on an owl treat. 

It was three o'clock in the morning when Lily heard something tapping on her window. She groaned, and shoved her pillow over her ears, not wanting to be disturbed so early in the morning. 

But the taps turned into bangs, and Lily suspected the deranged thing had started slamming itself into her windowpane. Since she was against cruelty to animals, she dragged herself out of bed and opened the window latch. The cool night air rushed in, along with that green owl. 

She pulled a face, silently cursing James. 

'Well, now. What d'you have for me at this hour in the morning?' She lit her bedside lamp and sat down under the covers, opened the envelope and let out a giggle, which she quickly stifled so as not to wake up Petunia. 

__

Dear my Darling Lily,

Insane? Me? I would be deeply offended, but I love you too much to care. Lily snorted._ How is that charming sister of yours? I hope she's healthy, and not prying into your business. _

Anyway. Where was I? Oh, yeah. I love you more than life itself. Your smile lights up my day like the sun lights up the cold winter mornings. 

I count the days until we meet again (there are 35) 

James. 

She crept out of bed and grabbed a quill, piece of parchment and an extra blanket, because it was a very cold morning for what was supposed to be summer. 

__

Dear James completely-out-of-his-mind Potter,

Yes, you are insane. And are you on any type of medication? If not, maybe you should be. If you are, I recommend you stop taking it, because I think it's done weird things to your already miniature brain. Maybe you should stop thinking, before your head explodes. It can only cope with so much thinking, you know. And I think you've exceeded your monthly limit. Then again, it's possible you haven't been thinking at all. 

Have you been reading Shakespeare? 

By the way, there's 36 days until we see each other. Thank God. 

Lily

P.S. Your owl is still green. And it seems a bit abnormal too, if you know what I mean. It tried to break my window to get inside, so don't blame me if it's a bit dizzy next time you see it. What's its name?

She slipped it into an envelope, stroked the strange owl for awhile, then sent it out the window. It must have lost its sense of direction when it tried to break into Lily's room, as it immediately crashed into the apple tree in the backyard, and fell to the ground in a heap. 

Lily groaned, giggled, grabbed her cloak and raced down the stairs, careful not to wake anyone up. If Mary found out what she was doing… They all knew she was a witch now, it was an impossible secret to keep, but what if she found out about the letter? 

She shuddered to think of it. 

Lily rushed outside, shivering in the cold, and looked around for the poor creature. She found it lying in a mulberry bush, upside down with its legs in the air. She touched its chest, hoping it was breathing.

It was. 

She breathed a sigh of relief and bundled it up into her cloak, carried it inside, and fell asleep on the couch, being too tired to climb the stairs to her bedroom.

Petunia woke up early. She got dressed, peeked out the window to see if anyone was doing anything strange, and after she'd watched the postman deliver a few letter, she went downstairs, only to find her younger sister fast asleep on the couch.

__

Goody, was the first juvenile thought that entered her mind, and she crept up behind Lily, leapt up into the air, and yelled out 'BOO!'

Which really _is_ a juvenile thing for an eighteen-year-old to do.

Lily wasn't the only living thing Petunia disturbed, though. She had managed to awaken a large, green _something_ with wings. 

Petunia saw the thing. 

It saw her. 

Petunia screamed, ran from the room and yelled loudly the entire time. The thing (which happened to be an owl) chased after her, its wings flapping and it screeched as it chased. 

Lily watched the entire thing sleepily, her eyes not entirely taken in what was happening, but she took it as funny and laughed herself silly. 

When the owl re-entered the living room, Lily was on the verge of going back to sleep. It pecked her, got grumbled at, but had successfully managed to wake her up, and the two of them ascended the stairs together. 

'Okay. Where's that letter of yours?' The owl produced a rather wet letter out from under its wing. 'Oh, good. Now, off you go, and promise me you'll peck James plenty, 'kay?' She rethought this sentence. 'Why am I talking to an owl?' She muttered under her breath, sent the green owl away, and it managed to get past the apple tree this time. 

She watched it go with a funny feeling. 

James read Lily's reply and laughed, found his quill, a piece of parchment, and wrote back to her, sitting up in a large Sycamore tree that grew in his backyard. Adrienne hadn't yet discovered this particular hiding spot of his, though she was going through them all pretty rapidly. 

__

Lily, flower of my life (where was he getting _these from?) _

Meet me at Diagon alley on the 5th of August. Be there, or I'll send you a Howler. 

Missing you (as always) 

Prongs

P.S. I was bored, so I thought I'd try dying Pickles (that's his name) a different colour. It's interesting, huh?'

'Hey, James?' 

He groaned.

__

'What?' How had she managed to find him? And so fast?

'What're you doing?'

'Nothing.'

'Oh. Can I come up?'

__

Make her go away… 'Sure!'

He handed his letter to Pickles, who flew off through the branches, only crashing into three, but he managed to straighten himself quickly.

'Who was that too?'

'Nobody.' 

'Your girlfriend?' Adrienne teased, grinning. 

__

'No. I don't have a girlfriend, and _don't_ particularly _want_ one, either.' 

Adrienne raised her eyebrows. 'Sheesh. I was only _asking_.' 

James shrugged. 'Sorry. I didn't get much sleep.'

'I got even less than you did. Did you know that you snore?'

James was clearly horrified. 'I do not!' 

Adrienne grinned mischievously 'who's Lily?'

'Oh, just this girl- what- how did you-'

'You talk in your sleep as well.' She climbed down the tree and skipped inside, humming under her breath. 

'What do I say?' he called, praying it wasn't anything to do with Shakespeare. But she didn't hear him, and he spent the rest of the day waiting for Lily's reply, and wondering what on earth he said in his sleep. 

Meet him at Diagon alley? Howlers? Lily blinked, trying to understand what he was saying. She was exhausted, and when you're tired, you don't comprehend things as well as usual. 

When everything became clear, she turned on her lamp, scribbled onto a piece of parchment, and gave Pickles an owl treat and sent him on his way again.

Then she dropped back of to sleep, completely oblivious to Petunias horrified yells, having seen Pickles fly off into the night.

Pickles was most definitely a deranged creature, and James noted this as he sleepily let the hysterical owl inside. 

__

James

I'll meet you there at 12:00pm.

Flower of your life? What have you been eating_? Owl food?_

Lily. 

He grinned and collapsed back onto his nice, soft pillow, much to the disappointment of Pickles, who was very hungry.

A couple of weeks later, James was wandering around Diagon Alley, looking for a tallish girl with dark red hair. It was 11:59, and there was no sign of her yet at all. 

Then-

'James! Over here!'

He spun around, and saw Lily standing in the middle of the street, grinning stupidly.

'M'dear Lily, how are you this fine day?'

He bowed low, and caused many amused whispers to arise from the passing crowd. 

She pulled a face, unable to hide the smile forming. 'It's raining.' She pointed out, looking up at the dark clouds forming in the sky. 

'Alas! What shall we do?' James looked stricken, and leaned on Lily's arm for support.

'Grow a brain?' 

'Yeah. Good idea.' 

They decided to go to The Leaky Cauldron, because neither of them had had lunch yet, and both were starving. 

While Lily waited for the food to be served, she looked at the latest copy of the daily prophet, some old Warlock had left their copy lying around for all to read.

DARK MARK AGAIN, the headline read. Lily's eyes widened, and she began to read the article.

__

The dark mark has appeared over 5 houses in the past 3 weeks, and many are too frightened to leave the house, while others are resorting to staying in large groups. No Death Eaters have been caught as of yet, but the Minister assures us they are growing closer and closer to their trail. Unspeakables are working over time, though, of course, we have no idea what they are up to. 

'What's that?' James asked, leaning over the table to see. 

She showed him, and he frowned as he read, then looked up sadly. 

'Don't worry, Lily. We're safe at Hogwarts.' 

'Yeah.' 

'Anyway, guess what I heard?' 

'What?' Their food had arrived, and Lily spoke through a mouthful of pumpkin pie.

James swallowed, choked, gulped down some apple juice, and started coughing. When Lily had stopped patting his back, he took a deep breath and spoke. 

'There's going to be a Halloween dance this year.'

Lily spat our her juice.

'Oh?' She asked, trying to look dignified. 'How d'you know?' She wiped the table over with her sleeve, while James looked on with an amused expression plastered across his face. 

'Someone told Frank Longbottom, who told Kylie McEvoy, who told Sirius, who came over in the holidays and told me.'

'Oh. Cool. Speaking of holidays, I take it you were bored?'

'Huh?'

'The letters you wrote me.' 

James snorted into his plate. 'Yeah, guess so.' 

'I tell you, you are the most insane person I know.' 

'Even more than Sirius?'

Lily considered this. 'Maybe not. But even so, you're quite insane as it is.' 

'Quite true, quite true. But better than being dull, like _some_ people I can think of.' 

'Are you saying I'm boring?' She raised her pie piece threateningly.

James's brown eyes danced. 'I might be.'

She lowered the pie. 'You don't really think I'm gonna throw this, do you?' 

'Nope.' He crossed his arms across his chest and grinned. A few moments later, pumpkin pie was dripping down his front, and bits of pumpkin and mince were stuck to his glasses. 

Which is why, a few minutes later, they were thrown out of the pub for uncouth behaviour. 

The pair of them bought all their school stuff together, and didn't go home until the sky was dark and sprinkled with stars. 

Kings cross station was extremely crowed, and Lily was having difficulty with her trolley. She kept getting shoved to one side, and was beginning to cut it very fine making it to the train. (Does that make sense?)

When she had finally managed to get onto the platform, she shoved her trunk onto a carriage, and plonked herself down in an empty one. 

Sirius stuck his head in the door halfway through the ride, an evil smile dancing over his face, his eyes twinkling with mischief. 

'What d'you want?' She asked suspiciously. 

Sirius looked hurt. 'I hear you attacked James with pie.'

Lily giggled. 'Yup. The colour suited him, actually.' 

'So I hear.'

Sirius and Lily had been discussing certain pies for a while, when Remus and James slid in. 

'Hi Lily.' 

'Hey.' She looked at James. 'Hi Pumpkin Face.'

'Ha ha. I will get you back for that, you realise.' 

'Of course.' 

Sirius looked from Lily to James. 'Are you two still fighting with each other?' 

'Yes.' 

'Yes.' 

Sirius pulled a face. 'You disgust me. You _know_ you like each other but….' He trailed off meaningfully. 

The train stopped suddenly, the lights turned off, and they were plunged into total darkness. 

'Yeouch!' 

'Sorry.'

'James?' 

'Sirius?' 

'Will whoever that is please get off my foot?.. I'm waiting.' 

'Oh, _that_ person… sorry.' 

'What's going on?' 

'Why have we stopped?'

The lights came back on, and the four of them stared at each other. Lily had somehow managed to end up on Remus's lap, James and Sirius' robes were tangled up with each other's, and they were all very confused. 

Lily peered out the window. 'We aren't even _nearly_ there yet. What's going on?' 

'Dunno.' 

'Well, I'm going up the front to check.' Lily made her way out of the carriage, apologising to Remus on the way. 

The boys looked at each other, then followed her out, James and Sirius trying to untangle each other first. 

There was quite a crowd gathered at the front of the train, and how Sirius, Lily, James and Remus ever made their way to the front of it, they would never know. But when they got there, they weren't sure they wanted to be. 

A young girl was lying on the floor, in the doorway to one compartment. The driver was bent down over her, his face stricken. James saw the girl's face.

Adrienne.

He gasped, and raced down beside her. 'Is she okay?' he asked breathlessly. 

The driver looked up, and slowly shook his head. 'No. You-know-who's doin' fer sure.' 

James's face paled, but he fought to keep a straight face.' 

'How do you know?' 

The driver pointed upwards, and the crowd glanced towards the ceiling. 

A large, shadowy skull with a snake wound through it was floating eerily, lit in the dark. 

'The dark mark.' 

The crowd whispered, and slowly departed, obviously terrified. James was reluctant to leave Adrienne's side, but Sirius and Lily dragged him back to their own compartment, with some difficulty. 

The four friends sat silently for what seemed like ages. James was pale, and he stared out of the window, a blank expression on his face, like he couldn't believe what had happened. 

Sirius sat next to James, but for once in his life, he didn't speak, or even try to say anything funny. Lily and Remus were also silent, Remus was daydreaming, and Lily was also looking out the window, occasionally looking up at James. 

Finally, James spoke. 'Why did he have to kill her? I mean, her parents are both already dead, but to end someone's life so soon- she was still only eleven. And she never did anything to him…' he didn't seem to be talking to anyone in particular, so the others stayed silent. 

Finally, the train pulled into Hogwarts, where all their teachers were waiting for them. Professor Dumbledore looked more serious than James had ever seen him, Professor McGonagall looked close to tears. 

The sixth years watched as the teachers carried the young girl's body off the train, and the seventh years comforted some younger children, who were terrified out of their minds. 

One little girl with dark brown hair and big, almost black looking eyes had decided she didn't like the seventh years, and had attached herself to Lily. She refused to leave her newly found friend, so in the end, Lily went with the first years over the lake, grinning as she did so. She hadn't been expecting to go on the lake again. 

Lily reappeared right before the sorting was going to start, and slipped into a chair next to James. 

'What have I missed?' she asked breathlessly. 

'Oh, nothing much. You know. Snape tripped over the steps, knocked almost everyone behind him, and just about caused an avalanche. McGonagall happened to be standing there, got pushed right over, her glasses smashed, and she tripped, rolled right into the lake, and the first years had to fish her out. Hagrid almost drowned.'

James, Remus and Peter stared at Sirius incredulously.

'Uh, Sirius?' Lily said politely.

'Yes?'

'There is one slight problem with your story. Professor McGonagall is sitting at the table, her glasses on, and she looks perfectly fine to me. Besides, I came over with the first years, remember?' 

'Oh. Yeah. Well, it would have been funny if it had actually happened.'

Before Lily, or anyone else, could comment on Sirius's state of mind, the first years turned up on the platform, and they all turned to look at the new Hogwarts students. The girl who had been following Lily was standing somewhere in the middle, biting her nails nervously. 

But before anyone carried the sorting hat out to sing, Professor Dumbledore stepped up on the platform, his long white beard trailing on the ground. He turned to face the many hundreds of faces in the hall, a very sad and old looking expression on his face. 

'A terrible tragedy occurred on the train ride over, of which I am sure you all know about. 

Adrienne McKinnon was only eleven years old.' 

Many of the students looked down at their empty plates, some with tears stinging in their eyes. Some first years on the platform looked like they were about to cry. 

'She should not have died. There was no reason to kill her, and why Voldemort did, we shall never know. But we do know that he cannot continue killing people, young or otherwise. It is cruel. And we must stop him.' 

Professor Dumbledore looked down at them through his spectacles, and he smiled sadly, he blue eyes twinkling- Lily couldn't tell if it was with tears. 

'Please remember what happened to this little girl. Don't just think 'it doesn't matter, no one will hurt me.' He could try to kill every person in this room. If we give in to him, he will win. But if we stand up for what we believe in, and stay true to those beliefs- we can win.' 

The entire hall was silent, and then broke into applause. There were only a few people on the Slytherin table who did not acknowledge this speech. They sat silently, glaring at Dumbledore as if he were the enemy. 

When the headmaster had taken his place at the staff table, Professor Flitwick carried the Sorting Hat over to the stool that stood waiting for it, then stepped to the side, holding a piece of parchment. 

When the hat had finished singing, the older students clapped- the first years looked like they might fall off the stage in terror. 

'Ackerman, Cale'

A short boy with sandy coloured hair stepped nervously forward, and he sat down, slipping the hat over his eyes. 

'HUFFLEPUFF!'

The table next to the Gryffindor table burst into loud applause, and the boy grinned shyly as he sat down.

'Archer, Rowena' 

The girl with the dark eyes walked over to the stool and almost as soon as it had fallen over her hair, it yelled out

'GRYFFINDOR!'

Rowena ran over to Lily, her face glowing. 'Hi Lily! Hi!'

Lily smiled. 'Hi. Want to sit down?' She gestured to the empty seat next to her, which the first year eagerly took. 

She looked around, watching the sorting silently, then saw James sitting near her. 

'I've seen you before, haven't I?' She peered around Lily curiously, her black eyes round. James shifted uncomfortably.

'No, I think so.' Those eyes were giving him the creeps. 

'Oh.' She leaned back in her seat, then spoke to Lily. 'He knew Adrienne, didn't he?' 

Lily nodded. 'Yeah. Did you?' 

Rowena nodded sadly. 'We went to the same primary school. She was really funny, and when we found out we'd be coming to Hogwarts… Her parents would have been so proud. They were really nice.' Lily nodded sadly, being able to relate to this tale. 'You know-' Rowena started hesitantly. 

'What?'

'I- I think she knew she was going to die.' She twisted her fingers around into a knot. 'She- she gave me this doll.' Rowena handed Lily a small cloth doll with a red smile painted on. 'She- told me told me to remember her.' James, who had been listening to this conversation, stared at the doll. 

'Elyse!' He exclaimed. 

'What?' His friends and Rowena stared at him. (And Lily, dunno if she counts in 'friend'. 

'That's the dolls name. Elyse. She said it was after -oh, what was it? Some witch, or something. Her dad gave it to her.' 

Rowena stared at him. 'I know I've seen you somewhere- but you have green eyes, why are they brown?' She looked very confused, along with everyone else. By now the sorting had finished, and food was piling up on their plates, disappearing just as rapidly. 

'I've always had brown eyes.' James said through a mouthful of food. 

'Oh. I guess I'm confusing you with someone else.' 

When desert was over and the plates had been cleared away, the Gryffindors went up the marble staircase together, showing Rowena stuff on the way. They warned her about the teachers (watch our for McGonagall, she really strict.) And Sirius even showed her some secret passageways, which was actually quite an honour. Obviously, he was feeling generous, probably due to recent events. 

James left for his dormitory almost immediately, his friends departing soon after, leaving Rowena by herself. 

She stared up the boy's staircase, puzzled and upset by what had happened. Adrienne had been her friend- and that boy, James, she _knew_ she'd seen him somewhere before. She racked her brains, trying to remember- but all she could come up with was his face, laughing at some joke. But his eyes _were_ green. She sighed, and walked up the spiral staircase slowly, falling asleep in bed before she even had time to change. 

The next morning, James was pale and completely silent, Lily suspected he hadn't slept at all the night before. Rowena had finally found some friends of her own, and they were sitting at one end of the Gryffindor table, discussing Transfiguration. 

Sirius left early to find his new quill, which he had accidentally left in his dorm, Peter decided to catch up on some notes (everything had flown out of his already tiny brain during the holidays), and Remus went to the infirmary to get something for a headache. So Holly, Lily and James were the only ones left. 

Holly suddenly remembered she needed to get another book, so James and Lily were left alone. They looked at each other over their cornflakes, and were talking about the new Potions master, when James got up abruptly and rushed out of the hall.

Lily stared at the doorway for a few seconds, then got up, grabbed her bag, and went flying out the door, knocking into several people on the way. She chased James through the long hallways, up and down stairs, until she was quite exhausted, and wondering how on earth James could keep going. She was lucky he was so tall; his head was visible among all the little kids. But then some huge shape appeared in front of her, and she could no longer see that mess of black hair. 

She sighed impatiently and looked up, to only to see Hagrids concerned face looking down on her. 

''Lo, Lily.' 

'Hi Hagrid.' She tried to peer around him, and his huge hairy face grinned suddenly. 

''He wen' tha' way' Hagrid said with a smile.

'Thanks! Wait- how did you?' 

Hagrid laughed, his laughter rumbling along the hallway, echoing into many classrooms, much to the annoyance of some teachers. 

Lily ducked around him, and dashed along the stone corridors, looking this way and that, trying to catch a glimpse of James. She saw him standing in a dead end, called out his name, then tripped over, falling flat on her face and scattering the contents of her bag everywhere. 

'JAMES!' 

He spun around to see Lily lying on the ground, junk all around her. He laughed, then sobered quickly and ran over to help her. 

He held out his hand and pulled Lily up, his pale face trying to hide a grin. 

'James!' Lily gasped out breathlessly. 'I- need- to talk- to- you.' She slid down against the wall, clutching a stitch in her side. 

James sighed loudly. 'I know, I know. You're going to say 'it wasn't your fault she died, you couldn't have done anything to help, blah blah blah.' 

He sighed again and slumped down next to her on the floor, watching a painting on the wall of some knight wearing rusted armour, who was watching them curiously. 

Lily stared at James for a long time, her green eyes sad. 'I- I wasn't going to say that.' 

James looked up. 'Oh?'

'N- no. I- I just- sorry,' she stammered. 

'What?' 

'I said sorry.' Lily said in a much more calm voice. 

'Thanks.' James mumbled. 'Look, we'd better get to- er-' 

'History of Magic.' She supplied, grinning. 

''Oh, is that all? Well, we can be late then' 

Lily laughed. 'I have a joke for you.'

'What?' 

'Okay, do you know what a refrigerator is?' 

__

'That's the joke?' 

__

'No. But do you?' 

''Do I what?' 

'Know what a refrigerator is?' 

__

'Yes.' 

'Good. What is white and sits in the middle of a field?' 

'That's the joke?'

'Yes.'

'Umm… A flower?'

'No. A refrigerator on a picnic.' 

James stared at her for a moment, 'Riiiight.' 

'Look, I knew that one in, like, grade 3.' 

James snorted. 'Come on, I think History of Magic's better than your jokes.'

'Gee. Thanks a lot. Now my feeling are hurt.' 

James helped her pick up her stuff, and they ambled along to their classroom, in much better moods than they had been.

'Got another joke for you.' Lily said with a grin.

James groaned. 'What this time?'

'Okay. What is blue and sits at the bottom of a lake?' 

'A dead fish?' 

Lily rolled her eyes. _'No_. A refrigerator holding its breath.' 

James raised his eyebrows 'Yes Lily, that is so much more normal than a dead fish,' he said sarcastically. 

They walked into History of Magic half an hour late, and the entire class turned around and looked at them. Professor Binns, a very old teacher with practically no hair, glared at him from his desk, while the students were extremely grateful for this distraction. Sirius glanced up, and his eyebrows almost shot right off his forehead. His surprise quickly turned to delight, and after James and Lily had been given their detentions, and Binns had gone back to his lecture, Sirius started teasing his friend. 

'What were you doing?' 

'Just talking.'

'About what?'

'Refrigerators.'

'Pardon?'

James and Lily broke out into giggles, causing them to lose yet another 20 points from Gryffindor. 

A few weeks into the school term, they had a very strange lesson. Professor Trelawney was sick (no doubt too much perfume), and they had a substitute. 

Walking along the halls of Hogwarts, the three of them were discussing the possibilities of this

Professor. 

'You never know, they might actually be _good_ at it.' Lily said, a thoughtful expression on her face. 

'Maybe we'll get to use the crystal ball again.' Sirius said with a grin -the last time they had used crystal balls, he had seen a large, shaggy dog. 'The grim! My dear, you have the grim!' 

He had thoroughly enjoyed freaking the rest of their class out. 

James was deep in thought, and Lily noticed this. 'What's up?' She asked, as they approached the ladder up to the classroom. 

'Huh? Oh… nothing.' 

They climbed the ladder, and were soon in the stuffy Divination classroom… but something was different. It James awhile to realise what it was, and when he did, he gave a little laugh. 

It looked a lot more like a classroom, and no perfume was stinking the entire room up, like it usually did. 

'Good morning.' A voice said, and it was a voice completely unlike Trelawney's, it sounded more like Professor McGonagalls- more like a professor. 

'Find a seat, and then we will begin.' The voice said, and few moments later a tall, young looking witch emerged from the smoke. She frowned upon them all, longest at Lily and Sirius, who were having a whispered conversation in the corner they were in. 

'We will be reading tea leaves this lesson-' the class groaned '-however, we will be using a more complicated method than you used in your third year, I trust this will be harder. And Mr Black?' She turned to face Sirius, who grinned up at her

'Yes?' 

'No cheating. I will be asking questions to how you came up with your answers. I do not like it when people cheat.' She gave him a stern look, and then sat down by the fire, looking out the window with a dreamy expression on her face. 

The class rushed to the shelves with the tea cups on them, and filled them eagerly with hot water, then drained them as fast as they possibly could. 

Lily stared into James's cup, twisting up her face in concentration. 

'Umm…. I see… Lots of leaves.' 

Professor Raven walked briskly over to their table and snatched the cup out of Lily's hands, causing both her and James to stare at her in surprise. 

She looked into the cup, a frown upon her stern face. 'I see a- is that a deer?' Her frown became deeper, and she rotated the cup. 'Very strange… how odd…'

'What's odd?' 

'Oh, nothing dear… nothing at all.' And with that, she handed a very confused Lily back her cup, and glided away, in something of a trance. 

James and Lily stared at each other in surprise. Then they realised they were staring at each other and looked down quickly, trying to make pictures out of the mess of leaves gathered at the bottom of their tea-cups. 

'Lily. Lily, wake up!' A hushed voice said, and Lily opened her eyes groggily. 

'What?' 

'Get up.' The person whispered, and Lily realised- to both her delight and horror- it was James. 

'What's the time?' She turned around to look at her clock, and saw that it was only 1 o'clock in the morning. '_James_.' She hissed, standing up and pulling on her dressing gown, '_what_ are you doing here?' 

'Just came up to say hello,' he said, his teeth shining in the darkness.

'At one o'clock in the morning?' 

'Uh… Well, no, not exactly. Want to come for a walk?' 

'No.' She shivered and blew on her fingers. 'I want to get back into bed.' 

'I'll keep you warm,' James teased, and Lily tried to glare at him, failing horribly, mainly because he couldn't see her face. 

'J_ames_,' Lily whined, 'can't you just let me sleep? Or do you want me to fall into my cauldron tomorrow?' 

James pretended to think about this for a moment. 'Sleep? Cauldron? Sleep? Cauldron?' 

Lily rolled her eyes to the ceiling, grabbed his arm, and pulled him down the stairs, grumbling all the way. 'Where exactly are we going, may I ask?' 

'I wouldn't have a clue.' He answered, causing her to turn around and glare at him for the second time, only this time he could actually see her. He winced. 

'Tsk, tsk, James.' They turned around and saw Sirius leaning against the wall holding James's invisibility cloak. 

'Hello Sirius.' Lily said cheerfully, grabbed the cloak off him, and the next moment footsteps could be heard going back up the girl's staircase. James shrugged at Sirius, then ran up the stairs two at a time.

Sirius stayed down in the common room, muttering to himself. _'Girls_.' 

A few moments later, James was dragging Lily back down the stairs, or rather, half of Lily. She was still half covered in the invisibility cloak, and Sirius couldn't help laughing at this predicament. 

Remus and Peter appeared a moment later, both rubbing sleep out of their eyes. 

'Okay then. Off we go.' And a few minutes later, the five sixth year Gryffindors were wandering around the halls of Hogwarts. At one thirty in the morning, which was actually quite forbidden (no doubt why James and Sirius wanted to go) 

But a few hours later, most of them were very irritable, as Sirius had managed to get them lost. 

'I don't know why I let you talk me into this,' Lily moaned, grabbing onto Remus's arm as she stumbled on the edge of a rug. 

'You weren't talked into it,' Sirius said good-naturedly 'James made you come, probably so- ow!' 

He had been slapped from both sides, and Lily gave a snort of laughter. 'Serves you right.' 

Peter shivered, wrapping his cloak around himself tightly. 'Why _are_ we doing this?' 

'Well, my dear boy,' Sirius said with a grin on his face 'where would you be if I hadn't made you come?' 

'Asleep.' Lily muttered. 

'Exactly!' Sirius said triumphantly 'asleep!' 

Lily stopped suddenly, causing Remus and James to crash into her back. 

'That is a _good _thing, nutcase.' She turned to James. 'Has he always been this crazy?'

'Yes.' James answered immediately. Lily nodded, a small smile forming on her face.

'I thought as much. Where _are_ we going? I _know_ we're going somewhere. You just aren't a good navigator, Sirius.' 

He poked his tongue out at her, then sighed. 'Okay, okay. We're going to the Divination tower.'

Lily pulled a face, stopping once again. 

'Ouch!'

'Will you stop doing that?' James asked, rubbing his backside (he'd tripped over her robes and fallen down) 

She stared down at him shaking with silent laughter, but straightened herself quickly when they heard footsteps coming their way. 

James threw Lily up against the wall, and the other three followed immediately, scrambling to get under the cloak. 

'James! We don't all fit!' 

'Lily. Pretend you're inspecting something.' 

'WHAT?" 

'Well, you're a prefect, aren't you?' 

'Ouch!' 

'Oops. Sorry, thought you were Sirius.' 

'I say Lily should stand out anyway.'

__

'Why?'

'We always fit under here with just the four of us. It's your fault.'

'I didn't want to come, thanks very much. Besides, maybe if you didn't have three servings of desert every night we might all fit. It could just be your-' James clapped his hand over Lily's mouth and dragged the others into a shadowy corner. 

'Ow!' 

'I couldn't _breathe_.' 

James snorted, quietly. 'You didn't have to _bite_ me.' 

'Oh, shut up, both of you.' Sirius whispered; the footsteps were coming closer. 

They watched as Filch walked slowly past, his beady eyes examining every inch of the hallway that they were standing in. 

'We're dead.' Remus muttered. 

A few days later, the five of them sat in an empty classroom, waiting for Professor McGonagall to take them to their detentions. She was running half an hour late, which was extremely unusual. 

'You know, this is the second detention I've had in 2 weeks.' Lily muttered, looking grumpy. She fiddled with a loose strand of hair, got it into a knot by accident, and spent the rest of the conversation trying to get it out.

'This is my fourth.' 

'First.' 

'Well, I've beaten you all.' Sirius said proudly, a grin on his face.

'Surprise, surprise.' Lily muttered.

'I have had six!' 

'Don't you ever get bored of it?' 

'Nah, It's worth it, seeing the look on their faces.'

'Whose? The teachers or the poor, innocent, unsuspecting targets?'

'You call Snape innocent?'

'Good point.' 

As Halloween grew nearer, not many students were thinking along the lines of school- the Halloween Ball was a much more popular topic. 

Lily was sitting in the common room one evening, doing her homework, when she heard a noise behind her. She spun around, expecting Holly, who had promised to study with her. But it was James. He grinned, pulled out a chair and sat down, his black hair falling into his eyes. 

'Hi. Have you seen Holly?' 

James laughed. 'Last thing I saw she was being begged by some poor fifth year who wants to go to the ball with her.' Lily snorted. 

'I have _got_ to see this.' And so she climbed out the portrait, James at her heels, searching for Holly. 

But they didn't find her, thanks to Snape, who was on his way to the library. 

'Well, what do you know. It's Potty and his little mudblood friend.' He sneered down at Lily-, which was rather difficult, as she was as tall as him. 

Lily felt herself turn pink. 'At least she's not a greasy haired loser who can't even come up with a good insult, Snape.' James glared at him, brown eyes flashing angrily. 

'Can't she even stick up for herself, Potter? Didn't know Mudbloods were that weak.' 

Lily saw red. She pulled out her wand smoothly, looked Snape calmly in the eye, then turned him into a toad. 

James stared at he creature in front of him. 

'How come you can do that here, but not in Transfiguration? You tried to turn Jo into a weasel, and she came out with all silky fur and whiskers.'

Lily wasn't thinking of this, however. 

'What am I going to do?' She wailed, clutching her wand with shaking fingers. 'We can't leave him here!' 

'Why not?' James asked, genuinely puzzled. 

Lily glared at him. 

'Come on Snapy, we're going for a little ride.' She shoved him into her bag, the toad's eyes staring at her reproachfully. 

She walked briskly off, and James had to run to catch up to her. 

'So. Where exactly are we taking dear Snape, eh?' 

'The infirmary.'

'WHAT? And say _what_, exactly? 'Um, excuse me Madame Pomfrey, I got mad at Severus Snape, so I kind of turned him into a toad?' 

__

'No. Do you really think I'm that stupid?' 

'Yes?' 

'Oh, shut up. Look, we're here.' She sat the big (and rather ugly, James noticed) toad down, and they both stared at it for a few seconds, James trying not laugh, Lily deciding whether she should laugh or run for it.

In the end, she tied a note around the toad's neck, grabbed James's hand, and pulled him along the corridor until they were along way away from the infirmary. 

'Where exactly are we going?' James panted. 

'I don't know. I just don't want to be around when Snape becomes human again. He might be feeling a bit nasty.'

'A _bit_? Lily, he'll want to kill you.'

'Thanks, James.' She said sarcastically. 'Now I feel much better.'

'What'd you tie around his neck, anyway?' 

Lily giggled. 'It said 'HELP ME'' 

'Maybe we should go to the common room?' 

'Why?' 

'You're right. Snape will be feeling nasty. He'll want to hunt you down.' 

__

''Kay. You do have your wand, don't you?'

'Yeah. Does it matter?'

'Yes. I don't know how to duel. You can do it for me.' 

'Gee, thanks. I feel really honoured. I get to risk the chance of growing fur, just for you.' He smiled

sweetly, pulling a face at the time. 

They walked back to the common room slowly, laughing about what Snape had looked like. 

'He was green!' Lily said gleefully, her eyes teary from laughter. 

'Who was?'

Lily and James whirled around, and they both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that it was only Holly. 

'Snape.' James said seriously. 'Lily turned him into a toad.' Holly's eyes widened until they were twice their original size. 

'You did _what_?' She said in disbelief to her friend. 

Lily's smile faded. 'I turned him into a toad.' 

'Bravo!' Holly said happily, dancing around. 'Good for you!' 

"Oh, be quiet. He'll be so mad, he'll want to blow me into a billion pieces.'

'That would be correct,' James said, nodding. 

Lily pulled a face, turned, and headed in the opposite direction to the Gryffindor common room. 

James and Holly looked at each other, shrugged, and then one followed Lily, the other decided they had had enough for the day. 

'So, Lily.' James said amiably as they walked quickly along the corridor. 'Where're we going tonight?'

'_I_ am going to the library.' Lily answered, not looking at him.

'At-' James checked his watch '-1 o'clock in the morning?' 

She spun around and looked at him in the eye. 'I don't particularly want to get blown into a million pieces, believe it or not.' 

'And you plan on not doing this how?' 

'Well… I don't actually know.'

James grinned, please to be of use. 'Well, Miss Cooper, it just so happens that I do.' She rolled her eyes, but continued walking. 

They entered the library slowly, and the only sound they made was when Lily whispered 'Lumos,' so she wouldn't knock into any tables. 

When they'd made sure no one was anywhere near the library, James pulled out his wand, and gestured for Lily to stand opposite him. 

'Okay now. What we do is- you know plenty of curses, right?' 

'Yeah.' 

'Well, we just throw some harmless hexes at each other, and try to block them.'

'Right.' Lily said slowly. 'Just one question. How do you block a curse?'

James dropped his wand. 'Are you telling me, that in all your years at Hogwarts, you have never learnt how to block a curse?'

Lily glared at him. 'No.' 

He sighed. 'Look.' Lily said angrily. 'You don't have to help me! Go off and raid the kitchens, or do whatever you want.' 

She turned quickly, knocked a candle that James had lit over, and her long black robes caught fire at once. 

James leapt over, pushed her down to the ground, and the next thing she knew, she was looking into a pair of dark brown eyes that were shining oddly in the darkness. 

'Uh, James?' She breathed. 

'Mmm?'

'Wouldn't a simple smothering charm have done the trick?'

James grinned sheepishly. 'You never know with those things. Sometimes they don't work to well.' 

Lily nodded.

Sirius met Holly in the common room. 'Where's James? Have you seen him anywhere?'

'Yup.'

She smiled and started to walk away. 

'Where?'

She just shook her head, grinning the whole time. 'Say the magic word,' she teased. 

'Pleeeease?' 

'Why, of course. James has gone chasing Lily somewhere, I think the library.' 

'Oh?' Holly could see Sirius's teeth form into an evil grin in the moonlight. 'Well, I need to catch up on some last minute stuff anyways.' He waved goodbye to Holly, and climbed out the portrait awkwardly. 

'They need to get a bigger frame,' he mumbled under his breath.

He walked the familiar route to the library, and was surprised to see a faint glow coming from inside. James was usually more careful than this. 

He crept in silently (so as not to disturb anyone that might 'happen' to be doing something they shouldn't be) and tip toed over to where the light was coming from, but what he saw wasn't exactly what he'd expected. 

__

James was lying on top of Lily? Sirius blinked. His first thought was that she had tried to attack him, or vice versa, when he realised this must be wrong. Lily was actually laughing at something Prongs was saying, and didn't seem to even care that her 'enemy' was squishing her.

Sirius would have loved to take a picture, but somehow, he knew that would be just too mean a thing to do. Still slightly dazed by this unexpected turn of events, he left the library just a silently as he had entered, and only exploded into laughter when he reached the boys dorms. 

Remus rolled over under his blankets, mumbling to himself. Peter groaned, and sat bolt up right, glaring at Sirius. 

'Some people are trying to sleep!' He said crossly. 

This was too much. 

First James and Lily, now Peter sticking up for himself? Sirius broke down completely, and Peter and the now wide-awake Remus raised their eyebrows at each other, both wondering the exact same thing. 

*ten minutes later*

'So. D'you think the fire's gone out yet?' Lily whispered.

James looked thoughtful. 'Maybe. It's hard to tell with these things.'

'You're probably right. Maybe we should just stay a little longer.' 

'Yeah, wouldn't want anyone to get burned, would we?'

'Nah. I quite like my stomach how it is.' Lily grinned sleepily. 

'I think it's gone out.' Lily said groggily, when she woke up after a quick snooze.

James nodded and crawled up, giving Lily his hand to pull her up. She took it, but he didn't let go once she was standing, and they both looked at each other in silence. 

'Sooo…We better go back.'

'Yeah.' 

They walked back to the common room quickly, James talking about certain curses that were rather useful when it came to dealing with Snape. For one thing, he hated worms. Lily, for some reason, found this hilarious, and they had to run the rest of the way to the Gryffindor tower, for fear of Filch hearing her in hysterics. 

As Lily climbed the stairs to go to bed, she heard a voice call her name. 

'Lily?'

She turned around. James was still standing at the bottom of the steps, a weird grin playing about his

lips. 'Yeah?'

'Want to go to the Halloween Ball with me?'

She laughed. 'Yeah. Sure.' And she raced up the rest of steps, grinning until her face hurt. 

On the Saturday after Halloween (it had fallen on a Tuesday) not one person was thinking about homework. The girls, especially, were in a frenzy, and it seemed the only girls who weren't included in this statement were Lily and another Gryffindor sixth year, Jo. 

'Hey, Sirius?' James asked curiously on the morning of the Ball.

'Mmm?' His friend answered sleepily.

'Who are you taking to the ball? You never ended up telling me.'

'Oh, didn't I? Oops.'

While James begged Sirius to tell him, Lily and Jo were involved in a very important conversation out on the Quidditch pitch stands, having been unable to find another place that was completely private. 

__

'Jo._'_ Lily whined, putting on a puppy-dog face. 'Just _tell_ me.' 

Jo turned pink. _'No_. Besides, you'll find out tonight.'

Lily snorted. 'So what? Look, you know who _I'm_ going with.' 

'Lily.' Jo said patiently. 'I knew who you were going with before you did.' 

Lily started to say something, then realised what Jo had said, and muttered. 'I don't _like_ him.' 

Jo nodded agreeably. 'Of course you don't. You're just going to the ball with him so you can 

publicly embarrass him in front of the entire school population.'

'Yes!' 

Jo rolled her eyes. 'Whatever. So, what're you going to wear?'

'Just this blue thing.'

__

'Just?'

Lily poked out her tongue, and decided to end the conversation before it got any more stupid. 

'Want to play Quidditch?'

'Yup!' 

And so, while all the other witches at Hogwarts were getting their hair neatly tied up, and had made sure their new dress robes weren't creased, Lily Cooper and Jo Gilles were playing Quidditch in the darkening sky. 

It started to rain. Pour, in fact. They steered down on to the ground, laughing as water streamed down their faces. Lily checked her watch and gasped, giggling at the same time. 

They raced upstairs, avoiding Filch, and dashed up into their dorm, where Holly, Laura, and Lianne were just putting the finishing touches on their hair. 

Laura dropped the clip she was holding (the butterfly on it fluttered away crossly) and gaped at them, her mouth wide open. 

Holly started to say something, but no words would come out, and she ended up looking like a fish. 

Lily snorted with laughter at their reactions. 

'My God.' Lianne muttered, looking at them from under a thick layer of eye shadow. 'You aren't planning on going out looking like that, are you?' She said incredulously. 

'Yeah, Lianne.' Jo said sarcastically. 'We were going to go to the school ball looking like we'd just been half drowned.' 

Lianne raised her eyebrows. 'Ha, ha.' 

'Uh, Lily?' Holly asked politely. 'It starts in ten minutes.' 

'WHAT?'

'Yeah.' Holly said, clipping back a messed up strand of hair that had escaped from the extravagant arrangement piled up on top of her head. 'You don't have much time.'

'Lily?' Lianne said, suddenly looking a whole lot happier. 

'What?'

'If you're not going, I can go with James. That all right with you?'

'Well. I am going. So there.' She grabbed Jo's hand and pulled her into the bathroom. 

'Okay.' Lily said, trying to sound calm. 'What we need to use is magic.'

'True.' 

Holly, Laura and Lianne stood in the common room, waiting for their friends to appear. James and Sirius were sitting in some armchairs, playing chess, and seemingly not in the least worried if they were late for the ball. 

Finally, after Sirius had beaten James twice, footsteps could be heard coming down the girl's staircase, and Lily and Jo stepped into the common room.

Lianne gaped jealously at them both, looking like Holly had earlier that evening. James and Sirius had similar expressions on their faces.

Jo had scarlet robes on, that were very plain, with her long black hair half up, the rest flowing down the back of her neck. 

Lily's hair had little clips in it at the front, twinkling different colours in the light. She had dark blue robes on, with a thin strip of gold on the sleeves and at the hem. Neither she nor Jo had any make-up on whatsoever. James gaped at her. 

'Hi.' She said, grinning, very pleased with herself. 

'Hi.' James answered in a strangled sort of voice. Lily and James were so busy staring at each other; they didn't notice Jo and Sirius talking quite happily about who-knows-what. 

'You're going with _Sirius_?' Lily said in shock, laughing at the prospect. Both Jo and Sirius turned a very pink colour. 

'Come on.' James said, not wanting Sirius and Lily to give each other black eyes before the ball. He couldn't be bothered going to see Madame Pomfrey for the third time that week. 

The four of them walked down to the ball together, which had actually already started. 

Sirius and Jo went to sit down, and James grinned at Lily. 'Want to dance?' 

Lily looked at him suspiciously. 

'There had better not be anything slimy you're planning on putting in my pocket.'

James pretended to be hurt by this accusation. 'Would I do something like that?' He wheedled. 

'Yes. But I'll dance with you anyway.'

Professor McGonagall sat at a table with some of the other teacher/chaperone kind of people table, and couldn't help laughing at some of the couples dancing around. 

The first years were particularly cute, except for the ones who were playing chasey. Rowena Archer and Joey McIntosh were almost as bad as the Potter gang, though (thankfully) there weren't as many of them.

McGonagall then saw something that made her choke on her pumpkin juice, causing Professor Dumbledore (who had been dancing with a Hufflepuff seven year- much to her embarrassment) to pat the Transfiguration teacher on the back.

'What happened?' He asked, concerned. 

She pointed across the room, and Dumbledore looked, expecting to see James Potter chasing some poor innocent 5th year around with a firecracker. 

Well, he did see James Potter. And he was with someone else. Professor Dumbledore laughed too, his light blue eyes shining merrily. 

'Well, well, well. What do you know? Looks like Lily and James have decided they don't hate each other after all.'

They weren't the only people who had noticed. Severus Snape watched them, frowning furiously. Sirius and Jo were drinking punch, and discussing when they thought Lily would yell at him. Or the other way round. 

And then several sixth years, fifth years and seventh years who knew either Lily or James raised their eyebrows when they saw this odd couple dancing together, seemingly quite happy.

'What d'you think they're saying?' Sirius asked Jo, watching his best friend step on Lily's toes (on purpose).

'I honestly don't know,' She answered, munching on some chicken flavoured chips. 

If they had known what their friends were talking about, they probably would have been quite freaked out. 

Lily had her arms around James's neck, and his arms were wrapped around her waist loosely. 

'I have another joke for you.'

James rolled his eyes. 'Spare me,' he said to the ceiling. The stars did nothing of the sort; they only twinkled and sparkled a bit brighter, perhaps. 

'Ahem. What is: Greater than God, more evil than the Devil, poor people have it, the rich don't need it, if you eat it you'll die?'

'I dunno.' James said, whisking her around the room to a fast dance. 

'Nothing.' She answered, gripping James's neck tightly. 'James?' She said loudly, trying to be heard over the music of the band. 

'Yeah?'

'There _is_ a reason I don't do loop the loops on broomsticks.' She steered him over to some chairs in one corner of the room. 

When she had caught her breath, she grinned weakly at him. 'Sorry. I just- just kind of get dizzy.' 

James nodded, his eyes on the cake at the table near them. But before either of them could start scoffing down food (they hadn't eaten dinner yet) Sirius and his partner for the evening appeared at their side. 

'So,' Sirius said with an evil grin. 'Are we invited to the wedding?'

Lily, who had just bit into a slice of cake, sprayed him with crumbs. When she had finished coughing and spluttering, she managed to glare at Sirius and Jo, who were laughing hysterically. 

'What wedding?' She managed to reply, trying not to look like someone who had almost choked to death on chocolate mudcake. 

Sirius caught James's eye, and decided it mightn't be wise to answer her. 'Oh, no ones.' He grabbed Jo's hand. 'We'll just be off now.' 

When the ball was over, everyone seemed a bit reluctant to leave. Lily and James walked up to the common room slowly, having to take a slight detour when Snape saw them. When they had run several hundred metres to get away (neither of them had their wands) they continued walking, and talking, about nothing and everything. 

They reached the common room, and looked around everywhere, just not at each other. 

'Night.' Lily finally muttered, and James grinned.

'Hope the bed-bugs bite.' He teased, remembering a conversation they had had a few years back. 

She glared at him. 'And I hope they eat you alive.' And with that, she leapt up the stairs to her dorm, collapsed onto her bed, and fell asleep, completely oblivious to various questions being thrown at her from her friends. 

The next morning, Lily slept in, for obvious reasons, and when she lugged herself down the stairs, she still wasn't completely awake. Which was why, perhaps, she gratefully accepted the chocolate Sirius offered her. If she had been in her normal state of mind, she would have wondered where this sudden generosity had come from, as Sirius's stomach seemed to be over large, and he ate anything that was edible. 

But the chocolate _tasted_ fine. Until a funny tingling feeling came over her. It was quite weird, your surroundings becoming much larger, and you much smaller. Lily looked around frantically. She tried to wave her arms, then realised she didn't have arms. Only weird little feathery things. 

Wings? _Wings_? 

She decided right now might be a good time to peck Sirius's eyes out. But she couldn't figure out how to fly, and by the time it was almost working, she was human again. And a pretty darn ridiculous looking human at that. 

Lily was flapping her arms, but when she became human again, she started to talk furiously at Sirius. That was what she had intended to do, but to Sirius it sounded a bit more like squawking. 

She glared at him, and then looked in a mirror hanging in the girl's stairwell. 

A BEAK? 

Lily rushed outside, grabbed Sirius by the ear (the more painful, the better) and dragged him down to Madame Pomfrey. 

The two of them stood in the infirmary, while Sirius explained (in a very not detailed kind of way) how Lily had come to have a bird's beak. 

And it was just as Lily slapped him with her still a bit feathery arm, that James entered, still quite sleepy and after a remedy for a very sore throat he had acquired. Sore throats flew straight out of his mind when he saw his two friends arguing. 

At least, he thought they were arguing. Sirius's half of the conversation sounded like insults, but Lily's weren't quite so recognisable. He wasn't even sure which language it was in. 

Until he saw the beak. 

James let out a quick shout of laughter, but quickly muffled it when he saw the looks in Lily and Madame Pomfrey's eyes. They were identical, murderous looks. 

'Out! Out!' The school nurse shoved them out the room, maybe because she was afraid that they'd tease her. Which, Sirius said, was complete nonsense. Or it could have been because she didn't want Lily to peck them too hard. 

'That could have been it.' James agreed when he heard this suggestion. 

Lily wouldn't speak to James or Sirius for the next couple of weeks. She and Jo were very occupied, and though Jo's messages to Sirius were very cryptic, James and Sirius figured Lily was planning revenge. So the Marauders continued marauding, and Lily and Jo continued- well, doing whatever they were doing. 

It was after a long night in the library, when Lily crawled into the common room, with only a dying fire to greet her. She trudged up the stairs, but felt the familiar old wave of insomnia sweep over her, and she sighed, grabbed her blanket off her bed, and crept down the stairs, dragging her thick quilt behind. Then she pulled a thick book of the shelf and curled up in a particularly squishy armchair. 

James glanced at the clock. Half past one in the morning. He rubbed his eyes, wondering what on earth had woken him up. It was one of those feelings, where you just feel like you need to do something, but you aren't quite sure what it is. 

So he sat in bed for awhile, getting quite cross with himself. There was a loud bang from the cupboard next to his bed, and James jumped. 

Then he crept over to the cupboard, pulled open the door, and peered inside. He blinked. There was a blinding light coming from inside the cupboard. But he hadn't put any lights in it. 

James started to pull things out one at a time, to find whatever it was. He was used to magic, but he hated not being able to understand something. 

So when his hand closed in around something that felt very different to everything else. It was cold, but James could feel the magic making like a magical heat glow out. He had to shade his eyes to stop the light from blinding him. 

But then, just as suddenly as it came about, the light disappeared, and the room was plunged into darkness. James shoved his junk back in the cupboard and sat up on his bed, clutching the round, smooth ball in his hand. 

When he'd stopped breathing hard, he peered through the darkness to look at the little silver ball, and, not really to his surprise, he could see it clearly. An eerie silvery light seemed to shine out of it, not illuminating anything else, just making it possible to see the glass. 

And then a picture began to form in the globe. 

James leaned in close to it. 

__

A very pretty young woman raced over the grass, her long hair flying out behind her, and she was laughing. A tall man chased after her, laughing as well, and when he caught her, she was tackled down into the grass. They rolled over and over in the grass, pulling at each other's hair playfully, giggling the whole time. 

The first picture faded, and a new image quickly formed, the colours melting together. 

__

The same girl, maybe a bit younger this time, sitting on a swing. She's pushing higher and higher, faster and faster, until she's flying through the wind on two chains, backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards when something flies her off it, and she lands several feet away, just like a cat. 

The same man as before appears, waving a wand through the air, sparks flying from it, making a little show in the darkening sky, then blending into the sunsets golden and red rays. 

He says something no one else can hear, and the girl falls over laughing, her hair spilling over onto her face, white cheeks pink with the cold. 

The picture changed again, more quickly than the last time, but no happy faces were smiling in this image. James leaned forward, his heart thumping loudly in his chest. 

__

An older version of the girl, but she isn't moving. She isn't doing anything. 

She isn't breathing. 

The entire picture faded away, and the inside of the ball became a smoky haze once again. 

James sat motionless, still as a rock for several seconds. Then before his mind even registered what he was doing, he rolled of the bed and raced out the door, leapt down the stairs and skidded into the common room, breathing hard. And then he saw Lily.

She was fast asleep, clutching the blanket wrapped tightly around her, and her face was distorted with fear. Her arms flew about, fighting an invisible force, and her mouth moved, screaming terrible pleas, but no sound left her mouth. 

In the days afterwards, he decided his brain mustn't have been in full function, because he was pretty sure that in his usual state of mind he wouldn't rush over and hug her. But that was what he did. 

She woke up with a start and stared at James, with her big green eyes full of tears. She started to say something.

'I just- just-' she couldn't seem to get the words out, and broke out into tears, burying her face in James's pyjamas. He didn't say anything, and just held her close to him, stroking her hair with his fingers. 

How long they sat there, James didn't know, and soon a cramp developed in his lower back, but because Lily had fallen asleep on his lap, there wasn't much he could do about it. After several hours, James fell asleep as well, his head resting on Lily's back, black hair falling over her robes. 

Sirius awoke the next morning in high spirits, and he jumped out of bed, pulled his robes over his head, and bounced downstairs, not bothering to brush his hair. His eyes widened to the size of golf balls when he saw his best friend and his best friend's supposed 'enemy' lying on an armchair, curled up together. 

He grinned. Life just got better and better. He crossed the common room in a few long strides, and skipped straight up to the sixth year girl's dorm, and shook Jo awake. 

She glared at him with blurry eyes. 

'What on earth do you want?' She groaned, sitting up, her black hair looking even darker against her very pale skin. 

'Come with me,' he hissed, an insane grin dancing across his face. 

She just glared at him, and was about to snuggle back down, when Sirius snatched her hand and pulled her out the room.

'Sirius, if this isn't good, I'll kill you, I swear- oh my God.' Her eyes fell on the cosy couple by the fire, and they widened tremendously. 

'So.' Sirius said happily. 'Should we wake them up?' 

Jo looked scandalised. 'No!' Then she grinned evilly. 'We take a photo.'

Sirius nodded, and rushed up stairs, muttering to himself. 'Now that's my kind of girl.' 

When he reappeared, Jo was sitting on the edge of an armchair, trying to work out which angle to take it. She grinned again when she saw the camera in Sirius's hands. 

'Now. I was thinking if we do it from _this_ angle, we can see Lily's face, but if we do it from _this_ angle-' she changed her position on the seat '- we can see both their faces, but it doesn't look quite so cute.' 

She looked up at Sirius. 'So, what d'you think?' 

Sirius hugged her, and when he pulled away, she looked quite bewildered. 'What was that for?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Dunno. So, do you want to take it, or should I?'

'You can.'

Sirius grinned. 'Oh, this is going to be good.'

Jo nodded. 'Very, very good.' 

The click of the camera woke Lily and James up, but neither of the two realised where they were and what were they doing for a few moments, and when they did, the first thing they saw was their best friends, grinning like Cheshire cats. 

Lily stared at James. 'Umm…' She leapt up. 'Sorry?'

James wasn't much of a morning person. He looked around sleepily, his brown eyes un-focused. 

His glasses had been knocked off during the night. 

Sirius found them, and placed them on James's face. 

'Good morning!' he said cheerfully. 

James just stared at him. Then he saw Jo, who was giggling, and then Lily, who looked dead on her feet.

And then he remembered the glass ball. And what he'd seen in it. 

'Morning,' James replied sleepily. 'Is it breakfast time?' 

The rest of them looked at him, not saying a word. Then Sirius turned, disgusted. 'Always thinking of your stomach,' muttered under his breath. 

Jo decided she was actually very hungry, and left through the portrait hole, shaking her head. 

Lily looked down at the ground, getting very cross with herself, because she could feel her face going red. 

'James?' She said timidly. 

'Yeah?'

'Er… thanks for last night.'

James looked at her. 'I didn't do anything,' he muttered. Then he turned to go get dressed. 

As he reached the doorway, he heard a small voice say something. 

'Yes, you did.' 

Sirius sat, fiddling with his quill, in a particularly boring History of Magic lesson. 

Oh, how boring it was. 

He looked around with heavy eyes, wondering if anyone else was awake. Remus was (how, Sirius would never know) Peter was snoring softly, and James- Sirius grinned. James was gazing at Lily. 

He looked down at the quill in his hand, looked back at James, and then at the table. 

Such a boring table it was. Definitely needed something to brighten it up a bit. 

So, for the rest of the lesson, Sirius set about making his desk 'beautiful'. He didn't realise how deep the cuts in the table were, not until Remus looked over at him. And grinned cheekily. 

'James'll kill you. And Lily, if she sees.'

Sirius looked down. 'He won't see… Actually… How do I get this off?' 

Remus looked a bit more closely. 'I don't think you can. You scratched it in too deep.'

And so, for the remaining half of the lesson, Sirius was just as busy. The next thing he knew, no one was talking, and they all had their heads bent over their desks. Either the Professor had put them all to sleep, or they were working. He listened for snores, (ignoring Peter's) and came to the conclusion that they were working. 

'Moony,' he hissed. James wouldn't be much help. Not if he wanted to survive. 

'What?' Remus glanced up.

'What're we doing?' 

'Weren't you listening?'

'I was _trying_ to save my life. I can't listen _and_ save my life at the same time. What do you think I am?' 

Remus laughed. 'So did you get it off?'

Sirius shook his head sadly. 'I'll be dead by sundown.' 

But Sirius wasn't dead by sundown, really only because James wasn't paying any attention to any writing on his best friend's desk; he was having quite a heated argument with the object of his affection. (That was how Sirius put it, anyway.)

'I DID NOT-' the entire class turned around to look at Lily, who had lost her temper. 

'I did _not_ do that. So there.' 

James poked out his tongue. 

'Oh, so mature, aren't we?' She said sarcastically. 

He glared at her. 'Since when are you _mature_? Or have I missed something?' 

Lily turned on her heel and stormed out the room, knocking into Professor McGonagall on the way out. 

Sirius turned to look at James. _'Very_ smooth, Prongs. You just have it down to a _tee_ with ladies.' 

James snorted. 'Lily is _not_ a lady. She's a- a- _witch_.' 

'Yeah, and so's every other girl in this room.' 

James shrugged. 'I'm hungry. You coming?' 

Sirius rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, but followed James and Remus out of the room. 

Most students liked to go home for the Christmas holidays, some because school- well, who'd want to stay at school any longer than you have to? Others just liked the extra presents they could get from their parents, and some (these are the nice, kind, generous ones) just missed their parents. 

Lily didn't go home this year, because Mary was going through a new stage. Mainly boys. She hadn't shut up about her new 'boyfriend' all summer, and Lily didn't want to find out whether or not their 'relationship' was working out. 

So, on Christmas Eve, she and James sat in the common room, being the only sixth years left. They were both equally concentrating on the game of chess they were playing, and in actual fact had not spoken since breakfast. 

When Lily won the game, James picked up a pack of cards and started dealing them out. This caused a bit of confusion, because since they weren't talking, they didn't know which game they were playing. Lily was playing Snap, and James was playing Go-Fish. When this had been sorted out, they played with the card pack for hours, and as the clock struck midnight, they were busily constructing a card pyramid, exchanging insults, and occasionally changing the subject to Snape. 

The pyramid exploded. James looked at Lily and grinned, black soot singeing his cheeks. 

'So. Shall we call it quits for the evening?'

Lily smiled. 'We shall. Goodnight.' 

They turned and left the room in opposite directions, leaving a mess of cards lying on the floor behind them.

James was under the impression that something was making his bed bounce. He was beginning to feel seasick, and wondered if this was some new type of hallucination. 

He struggled to open his eyes, fighting back the wave of dizziness that was making his head spin. 

When he saw Lily bouncing up and down on the end of his bed, he had to fight the urge to strangle her. The only reason he _didn't_ strangle her was because she was holding presents, and he liked getting presents. 

'Is there a reason you're in here bouncing on my bed?' He groaned, trying to sound cheerful and edge closer to his gifts at the same time. 

Lily grinned good-naturedly. 'No. I just thought I'd wake you up. Did you know that you snore?' 

'Yes. I was kindly pointed that out in the holidays. Thanks all the same.' 

'You talk in your sleep as well.' Lily said in an offhand voice, and she began shuffling through her presents, looking for the smallest one, so she could open them in order, from smallest to biggest. 

James stopped ripping spotty wrapping paper off something squishy, and stared at her. 'What exactly do I say?'

'Weeeeell. Unrecognisable stuff…You mentioned a hippogriff…and I think you said something about not wanting to eat your pudding… Yeah, that's about all I heard.'

'That's _all_? You know, dreams are supposed to be private, thanks very much.'

Lily raised her eyebrows. _'Sorry_. But if your dreams are supposed to be private, maybe you shouldn't talk about them out loud. It really isn't a very smart thing to do.' She was about to continue, when they heard a knock on the door. Lily leapt under the bed, pulling the gifts she'd brought in under too. 

Professor Dumbledore walked in, looking more cheerful than he had in ages. He had holly in his hair, and tinsel wrapped around him. He reminded James strongly of a Christmas tree, but he of course didn't say anything like that to the headmaster. 

'Good Morning, Mr. Potter, Miss Cooper.' He said it in a teasing kind of tone. 

Lily stuck her head out from under Sirius's bed. 

'Do you have x-ray vision?' She accused him, and then slapped a hand across her mouth in apology. 

Dumbledore laughed. 'No.' He handed her a tissue. 'But you shouldn't sniff.' 

Lily looked at the cloth in her hand, and blushed, wondering what to with it. She didn't exactly want to blow her nose on a hankie belonging to the headmaster. 

'Now. I was just wondering if you two would like to go to Hogsmeade today?' 

'You came into my dorm to ask us that?' James said incredulously. 

'Yes. There aren't many students here these holidays. Only about four Gryffindors, no Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws, and six Slytherins. Besides, it's been a long time since I came to visit the dormitories.' James grinned, and Lily looked longingly at the parcels in front of her, just waiting to be opened. 

Professor Dumbledore laughed, walked over to the door, and smiled at the two of them, his light blue eyes shining. 

'I take it you'll be coming?' He asked.

They nodded. 'Then I'll let you get back to your gifts.' With that, he closed the door behind him, and they could hear his footsteps disappearing down the staircase. 

James looked at Lily and shrugged. 'Well, no one ever said he was a normal headmaster.'

Lily wasn't really listening. She was examining some goo that sat in a blob on the carpet.

'Its…gooey.' She said. 

'Yeah, I think that's from Sirius. You slime people with it.' 

'But…it sort of seems alive. You couldn't throw this at people.' She poked it. 'See? Look at the way it wiggles.'

James pulled a face. 'Just don't slime me with it. Save it for special occasions, like a Snape attack.'

Lily looked scandalised. 'I couldn't throw this at Snape!' She picked it up, and it oozed around her fingers. 'It's too cute.'

James stared at her. 'Are you insane?'

She poked her tongue out, lay the goo on the ground, and pulled the wrapping paper off a book. 

When all their stuff had been opened, and Lily had gone to her dorm to get changed, they wandered downstairs for breakfast. The Slytherin table had the most people at it, and, to James's disgust, Severus Snape was sitting at the table, eating marmalade toast. 

'Great, just great,' he moaned. 'Are you sure you couldn't lend me some of that goo?'

'You are not going to throw Oozles.' She said fiercely, then looked like she wished she hadn't spoken.

'You gave your goo a _name_?' 

'Oh, shut up. But Oozles sounds pretty cool, huh?'

'Do not scare me any more than you already have.' 

Later that afternoon, Lily and James were sitting on the steps outside, flicking bits of snow at each other with one hand, and eating lollies they'd bought from Hogsmeade with the other. Neither one could be bothered starting an actual snowball fight, because they were quite contented as they were, and besides, they hadn't finished their lollies yet. 

'You know what I don't understand about you?' 

'What?' 

'Well, how is it that you do so well in school, but don't actually have any brains?'

James glared at Lily. 'Oh, it's simple. I just copy off you.' 

'Gee, thanks. I'm glad I've made life easy for you.' She said dryly, but she was trying to hide a tiny grin. 

James got up then, brushing snow off his robes, and he stepped inside into the warmth of the castle. Lily watched him go, sat up suddenly, and ran inside after him.

'James?' She called. 

He turned around. 'Yeah?'

'Do you really hate me?'

'Nah…Course I don't.' He continued walking, and Lily stared at his retreating figure, getting very cross with herself. 

'What a dumb question.' She muttered to herself. 'Now he's going to think that I don't hate him.' 

__

Do I? A tiny voice inside her head asked. Lily answered herself crossly. 'Of course I do.' She hated the tiny voice inside her head, and threatened to slime it if it didn't shut up. 

'This is what I'm coming to,' she moaned. 'Threatening the voice inside my head.' She shook her head in disbelief, and trudged upstairs, sucking on a gobstopper. 

When everyone else returned, classes resumed, and both James and Lily forgot their conversation on Christmas Day. Or maybe they chose to forget it. Either way, they didn't speak about it at all, and pretended it didn't happen. 

The invisibility cloak, they soon realised, had its limits. It somehow made everything seem much colder, and when you're sneaking around the school in late February at the early hours of the morning, this really isn't very useful.

Lily shivered. 'This is great. Just great.' She checked her watch. 'Oh, even better!' She exclaimed, getting crosser and crosser by the minute. 'The damn thing's stopped.'

'How do you know it's stopped?' James asked, trying to find the loose brick in the wall. 

'Do _you_ think it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon?'

'Uh… no, guess not.' 

'Do you have the _actual_ time?'

James looked at his own wrist. 'Yeah… It's quarter past five.' 

'In the _morning_?' 

'No, in the afternoon,' James answered sarcastically. 'Of course it's in the morning. Hey, you agreed to come.' 

Lily snorted. 

'You sound like a hippogriff.' 

'And why are there people that sound like hippogriffs wandering around at quarter past five in the morning?' A furious voice wanted to know. 

The first thought that entered Lily's mind was to run. The second was to kill James. The third was to blame James, and hopefully get him expelled. Run seemed like the best option, but by the time she'd come to this conclusion, Professor McGonagall had ripped the cloak off them, and was dragging them 

by the arms to her office. 

She left them there until it was time for breakfast, because apparently she hadn't had any sleep yet, and besides, they needed time to think about their behaviour. 

Lily sat on an old cane chair and stared at door numbly. 

'It's not going to open itself, you know.' James muttered, wishing he had a cup of hot chocolate. 

'I _know_ that. But anything's better than looking at you.' 

After this, they sat silently for about half an hour, and then Lily got sick of waiting patiently, and (only because she was incredibly bored) began to speak to James. 'I bet we get expelled.' She muttered numbly. 

'Course we won't get expelled. At least I don't think we will.'

'You don't THINK we will?' Lily exploded, being unable to hold it in any longer. 'You don't THINK?'

She rethought this. 'Well, I _know_ you don't think, but the least you could have done was, like, NOT wake me up at three in the morning, wondering if I wanted to go instead because Sirius was snoring and you couldn't wake up him up…' she trailed off still mumbling about friends snoring, and then fell silent again, her emerald eyes sullen.

'You didn't HAVE to come,' James said grumpily. 

'I DIDN'T _HAVE_ TO COME?" Lily shrieked. 'I seem to remember SOMEBODY threatening to tell Snape I'd said something about him if I _didn't_ come.' She looked at him accusingly.

James shrugged. 'It was an empty threat. How was I to know you'd take me seriously?'

Lily was on her feet by now, and was living up to the reputation of red heads having fiery tempers. She advanced slowly on James, breathing deeply. 

'I could get EXPELLED because of some _empty threat?_ I might have to spend the _rest_ of my days with a fifteen year-old who is_ almost as bad as my sister?_ You have _got_ to be _joking_!'

'Hey, I might get expelled as well.' He decided to shut up after this comment, because Lily's eyes were flashing dangerously, and he didn't want to provoke her into doing anything too serious. Like blowing him up into a puff of smoke. 

They were so busy yelling at each other after this, neither one noticed Sirius and Jo tiptoe in, and stare at them open mouthed from the doorway. 

Lily was just going into a speech about how she would make sure she'd find him in the muggle world, even if she couldn't use magic, when James suddenly leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. 

Needless to say, when he pulled away, she was quite shocked. 

Lily opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, and opened it again, looking like a fish out of water. Her green eyes stared right into James's dark brown eyes, and she continued mouthing wordlessly, much too shocked by what had happened to actually speak. 

Sirius chose this moment to interrupt. 'Uh, James? Lily? If you're quite finished, Professor McGonagall wants to see you.' When neither James nor Lily moved, he added 'now.' 

Lily's eyes narrowed. 'If you tell anyone about this,' she warned him '_anyone_. I will personally rearrange your face. Get it?' 

'As if I'd _want_ to tell anyone,' James muttered, black hair falling over his eyes. 

'Good.' She replied, and then left the room, with Jo trotting to catch up. 

Sirius grinned cheerfully at James. 'Well, now. That's only taken, what? Six years?'

'I was tired.' James muttered. 'I wasn't thinking clearly.'

'That, Prongs, is obvious.' 

The rest of the day was eventful, unless you counted Lily chucking a lizards intestines at Sirius, who was making kissing noises, an event. 

That night in the common room, James, Sirius, Remus, Jo, Holly and Lily sat spread out in the armchairs closest to fireplace. James was playing Wizards Chess against Sirius, Lily was helping Holly was Charms, Jo and Remus were having a debate about the moon. 

Sirius accidentally let something slip, and let it slip loudly, as well. 

'But James… If you _kissed_ Lily, can't you just admit you like her?' 

James's eyes narrowed, and Sirius quickly decided it was way past his bedtime, and hurried off to bed, grinning to himself. 

'You kissed _Lily_?' Holly crowed with delight. 'When?'

'Does this mean you two are finally together?' Remus added, and he ducked as Lily's hand whipped through the air towards his head. 

'NO!' They both yelled, and stomped off to bed in opposite directions. 

Their friends watched them go, and then looked at each other, identical evil grins on their faces. 

'When _did_ James kiss her?' Remus said curiously. 'I thought they did at least _sort_ of hate each other.' 

'This morning.' Jo said quietly. 

'WHAT?'

'Yeah, me and Sirius were there.'

Remus coughed. 'Excuse me?'

'We were there. They were, like, screaming their heads off at each other. And then Lily was yelling at James about something-- I'm not sure what-- and he kissed her.'

'You _interrupted_?' Holly interrupted with disbelief. 

__

'No.' Jo said, and then she grinned. 'They didn't even know we were there. Anyway, she just sort of stared at him, and then she threatened him not to tell anyone, and then she left.' 

'She just- left?'

'Yeah.' Jo shrugged. 

'Heeey,' Remus said slowly. 'Lily never said for _you_ not to tell anyone, did she?' 

'No,' Jo answered, looking at him curiously. Then she grinned, knowing what was coming. 'But they'd kill us. Literally.' 

'Nah. We'll just 'accidentally' talk about it in front of Peeves.' 

Holly and Jo stared at Remus, is if seeing him in a new light. 'Remus. And we thought you were a nice boy.' Holly pretended to be stricken, but was laughing in a few seconds. 

'Now.' Jo said briskly. 'We have to get a good nights sleep, so we can plan properly tomorrow.'

'What's to plan?' Holly yawned. 'We tell everyone we possibly can that James Potter and Lily Cooper are a couple, and see what happens. That is, if they don't find out what we've done. If they do find out, I'd say we'll be spending an awful lot of time in the hospital wing. ' With that, she climbed sleepily off to bed. 

Jo looked at Remus and shrugged. 'She's just panicking,' she reassured him. 'Nothing's going to happen.'

'Well, wouldn't you know. The two lovebirds have finally gotten together.' A familiar unpleasant voice drawled behind Lily. 

She coughed. 'Excuse me?'

'I heard about that kiss. How sweet.' 

Lily felt herself turn red, just adding to her embarrassment. 

'How the hell would you know whether or not we kissed? Not that we did.' She added in a mumble. 

'Awww. Keeping it a secret, are we?' He smiled, and his features crinkled, as if not use to this muscle spasm. 'Not any more, Cooper.'

He left, whistling cheerfully, and she stared down at the cornflakes in front of her, sitting peacefully in their milk, just waiting to be eaten. She had a sudden urge to chuck it right at Snape's head.

James himself was sitting at the other end of the Gryffindor table. Snape had already visited him. He looked down at the detention slip next to his late and grinned. It was worth it, seeing the slime ball transforming into an ugly skunk. 

Professor McGonagall had not been pleased. Neither had Sirius. Snape had put his new found abilities into practise, and Sirius was forced to go to the school nurse to get something that might make him stop smelling like…skunk. 

But James considered Sirius lucky. If he had gotten his hands on him, he might, for example, have been turned into a… something extremely unpleasant, anyway. 

He felt his eyes wander down to where Lily was sitting. Her face was quite red, and some Hufflepuff sixth year girls were surrounding her, talking non-stop. James recognised these girls; they were among a group that had followed him tirelessly around in his fifth year. He shuddered at the memory. 

A few days later, Lily was sitting in the library, staring blankly at a page. She hadn't taken in one word in the half-hour she'd been sitting there, and was beginning to get bored. But there was no way in the world she was going to leave the library. The Hufflepuffs were probably just waiting to ambush her. 

Maybe she should just kiss James for real, so then it would be worth it. 

__

Now where did that thought come from? 

She shook her head, and then closed the book she'd been staring at. First she was being terrorised by lovesick girls, and now she was beginning to like him herself. Wait! No she wasn't. She was just…just…thinking?

Lily groaned and put her head in her hands, wondering why James had to kiss her in the first place. He was such an idiot sometimes, even if he was a good kisser. She sighed and placed the book on the shelf. 

__

Wait a minute. Did I just think he was a good?- oh, God. I've lost it. 

Eventually, Lily left the library at a run, determined not to speak to the Hufflepuffs again. She was afraid either she would curse them, or they would curse her. It was the latter that worried her the most. 

She was so busy trying not to think about James, that she ran into someone going in the opposite direction just as quickly.

'Yikes! I'm so sorry- oh, it's only you.' Her green eyes narrowed at James's brown ones, and she sighed. 

'We'd better go, before we're accused of-'

'Ha! Caught in the act!'

'Great', Lily moaned, and James winced. The Hufflepuffs were coming. 

'We knew it!' Shrieked Katherine McDowell, a rather skinny girl with dark brown hair. 'We knew it was true!'

'Aren't us Hufflepuffs good enough for you, Potter?' Gertrude Hope sniffled. 'Do you only go for the most beautiful girls?'

Lily felt her face go hot. 'He never- er- _went_ for me,' she snapped furiously. 'We just- kind of- ran into each other.' 

'Yeah.' James nodded.

'That's right stick up for up for your girlfriend.' Katherine said. 

'She is not my girlfriend!' James said crossly. 

'Oh, what is she? Just a fling?' Gertrude sneered. 

__

'We are, and have never been together!' Lily shrieked. 

'Yeah, right.' They decided to leave, and walked off, muttering about red heads. 

Lily stared after them. 

'They need help. I mean, anyone with eyes can see we don't like each other.'

'Precisely.'

'We're just friends. Right?'

'Right.'

'And when you- er- kissed me (Lily blushed) it was an accident. Right?'

'Er…right.'

Lily looked up at him and grinned. 'See? They're all crazy.'

James grinned. 'Of course they are.'

Lily nodded, like she was trying to convince herself. 'They don't know what they're talking about.' 

'But I don't exactly _hate_ you. I do _kind_ of like you a bit.' 

Lily stared at him, open-mouthed. She shut it promptly, and glared at him. 'You just had to say that, didn't you?'

'Yeah, I did.'

'You think you can have anyone you want, don't you?'

'Now you sound like them. I only want you,' he teased. 

Lily stared him. 'You _are_ kidding, aren't you?'

James sighed. 'Caught me.'

Lily breathed a sigh of relief. 'I've got to go.' She looked over her shoulder nervously. 'The Ravenclaw fifth years threatened me with hexes yesterday. I only just escaped.' With that, she walked quickly away, skipping every couple of steps.

James watched her go. 'But I don't exactly _not_ like you, either,' He whispered after her retreating figure. 

'I AM NOT JAMES POTTER'S GIRLFRIEND!' Lily yelled for at least the billionth time that day.

Professor McGonagall looked up in surprise. 'We're very pleased to hear that, Miss Cooper. Now if you please, do sit down and finish turning that chair into wart hog.' She went back to marking the papers that she had made some seventh years write on transfiguring toads. 

Lily looked at the chair with hatred, and kicked it. It squeaked, and Lily sighed. 'Stupid thing,' she muttered. After a few more waves of her wand, it had a head and was covered with some weird skin. 

She continued calling it names, when someone's hand rested on her shoulder.

'Lily? Maybe you should calm down.'

Lily shrugged Jo off. 'For the last three weeks, I haven't been able to walk out of my dorm- I haven't been able to walk around _in_ my dorm- without someone mentioning _him_!' She pointed at James, who suddenly became fascinated with his wart hog (it had wooden legs).

The bell rang and Jo steered her friend out the door and down the hall. When they were away from their class, she faced Lily, and said 'maybe you should just admit that you like him. It's not going to do any harm. Besides, he _does_ like you. I can tell.' 

'Why won't anyone believe me?' Lily wailed. 'And anyway, since when were you such an expert?'

Jo pulled a face. 'Just admit it. Anyway-' she grinned cheekily- 'I think you make a cute couple.' 

She skipped away before Lily could do something to her, and Lily stared after her, clenching her fists tightly in her pockets. 

Spring was Lily's favourite season. She sat on a bench outside one Saturday in early April, watching the sun set slowly in the East, and she wondered why it never went properly black at nighttime. There was always a little bit of colour, whether it was from the stars or the clouds lit by street lamps. 

When the last trace of gold had dipped behind the trees, she hugged her knees up against her chest, because the night air was chilly. But she didn't want to go inside. It was much nicer out here, without anyone talking to her or about her, to her face or behind her back. It was never mean talk or anything, but it got so tiring not even being able to talk to James without someone making kissing noises.

She was just pondering over this, when a warm hand wrapped her icy one in theirs. 

'You're freezing. Come inside or you'll turn into an icy-pole.' James was teasing her.

'I'm not cold.' Lily punctuated this sentence with a sneeze. 

'No, of course you're not.' He answered sarcastically. 'Just a bit chilly. Look, you'll make yourself sick if you don't come in soon.'

She didn't move. 

'I'll carry you in if you don't come.' 

Lily considered her options. She could walk inside _with_ James, or get carried inside _by_ James. 

She was just deciding to walk, when James lit a fire with his wand and placed it in front of them. Apart from being very small, and very hot, it was very green.

'James?' She asked timidly. 'Why is that thing green?'

'Dunno. Just is, I guess.' He caught a glimpse of her face in the firelight. 'It won't hurt you,' he laughed. 

She glared at him, but didn't appear very threatening as she was shivering. 

'You really _are_ going to get sick. Don't be stupid Lily, come inside.'

She just shrugged, and James sighed in exasperation. 'Lily! Do you want to get the flu?' 

'Maybe I do. Then I could just die and not have to put up with stuff like this.' 

James stared at her. 'You don't mean that, Lily. Don't say things like that.'

Lily sighed. 'Okay, I don't want to get the flu. But I won't go inside either.'

'Well. Looks like we'll be out here for awhile.'

'Pardon?'

'I'm not leaving you out here by yourself.'

'Gee. Thanks.'

'Anyway…While we're out here there's some stuff I want to say.'

'Do you have your wand?'

'What does _that_ have to do with anything?'

'Nothing at all…I'm just stalling for time.'

'Do you want to hear this or not?'

'No?'

James glared at her. 'Look. When we were in our first year I hated you. I thought you were the worst thing there could possibly be besides cabbage. You were my worst enemy, and personally, that was fine. Then, in our second year you were still a pain, and it was fun to tease you and stuff.'

'This isn't supposed to be romantic, is it? Because it's not' Lily interrupted, wrapping her arms around herself. 

'Shut up and listen. In our third year, you were…I dunno. Different, I guess. But I didn't hate you as much any more. But you still hated me, so I just kept teasing you and stuff. After that I kind of liked you more-'

'I'll bet Sirius is standing over there under the invisibility cloak, taping this whole thing.'

'He's not.'

'How would you know?'

'It's in my pocket.'

'Oh...Sirius or the cloak?'

'The _cloak_. Can I continue?' 

'Of course you can.'

'You promise not to interrupt?'

'I promise not to interrupt.'

'Good.'

'Not _much_, anyway.'

James pulled a face. 'Okay. I quit. You do not get to hear any more.'

'Awww. I apologise. I won't interrupt again.'

'You promise?'

__

'Yes. Hurry up. I'm cold.' 

James grinned. 'So…I guess I haven't really hated you for ages. Well, sometimes I still thought you were the worst thing since cabbage, but that hasn't been for awhile. And when I kissed you-' Lily blushed- 'it was one of the smartest things I've ever done. Besides getting those fire-crackers under Snape's bed.' He added. 

Lily stared at him. 'Did you rehearse that?'

'No. If I'd rehearsed it I wouldn't have sounded so damn stupid.'

'Nah. You didn't sound stupid. You almost looked cute, in fact.' 

'I'll take that as a compliment.' 

Lily shrugged. 'Take it how you want. I'll always remember you declared your undying love for me in the freezing cold.'

'Er… Lets stick with _like_ for now. Undying like.'

She grinned. 'Okay. That way I can still slime you with Oozles Jr.'

'Did I just hear you say Oozles Jr? _Please_ tell me I didn't.'

'You did. I figured out how to duplicate him, so now I have this whole boxful of slime.' 

'Great. I'm feeling much better now.'

Lily shivered. 'Can we go in? I'm cold.'

'Yeah… Why didn't I think of that?' Before Lily could come up with a comeback, he'd lifted her off her feet and was carrying her across the wet grass.

'LET ME _GO_, POTTER!'

He dropped her, and she looked up at him, her emerald eyes flashing. 'I can still slime you.'

'You'd never slime me. He knelt down and kissed her on the nose, then raced off, laughing.

Lily raced after him. 'I'm going to get you for that! Come here! Why you little-' 

James leapt out of the shadows and pulled her close to him, and kissed her gently on the lips. 

Lily glared at him. 'You do realise I will never forgive you for this?'

'What are you going to do?' James teased. 

'Kiss me again and I'll think about it.' 

Lily walked into her dorm that night, gazing straight ahead. Jo, Holly and Lianne stared at her. 

'Lily?' Holly waved her hand across her face. ''We've lost her. She's off in la la land.'

'I'm not…I was just…thinking.'

'So, where've you been?' Jo asked, snuggling down under her blankets. 

'Somewhere?' 

Jo sat up. 'Oh? Where would that be?' 

'Outside?'

Jo grinned. 'I don't suppose you know where Mr. Potter might have been then?'

'Uh…_No_…' Lily turned pink. 

Jo glared at her. 

'Outside?' Lily said, then ducked under her blankets when Jo threw a pillow at her head. 

There was a Quidditch match on that Saturday, and as Gryffindor scored another goal- that put them in the lead by 40 points- Lily decided to join Sirius in the commentating box. 

'Hello,' she said, her eyes on the game. Sirius nodded to her, as he couldn't talk since he was yelling into his microphone. 

James had a habit of catching the Snitch in the most dangerous way possible. (when he tried to explain this to Lily, she said he was just showing off) 

When the Snitch was firmly enclosed in his hand, and Sirius had leapt about for awhile, hugging Lily, they made their way down the staircase, talking excitedly about the game. 

James was pushing his way through the crowd, and he winced when he saw a large group of Hufflepuffs approaching. Lily and Sirius noticed them at the same time, grabbed James, and pulled him away. 

'Thanks,' he gasped. 'They were looking particularly murderous today.'

Lily grinned. 'Awww. They're probably hunting you right now.'

James winced. 'Yuck.' 

'So, my dear Prongs.' Sirius draped his arm around his best friends' shoulder. 'Will you join me in a game of chess?' 

'Of course, Padfoot.' He grinned, and rolled his eyes at Lily over Sirius's shoulder. The three of them walked back to the castle arm in arm, Sirius singing loudly. Some people passing them stared at the threesome, maybe because Sirius looked as though he was drunk, and Lily and James were laughing so hard they couldn't walk straight. 

A few weeks later, Sirius bounced into the common room looking extremely pleased with himself. Remus wasn't there, and Peter was in the infirmary because he had somehow managed to explode his cauldron. 

Lily and James were arguing at each other over a game of chess, continually being told off by seventh years that were studying for their N.E.W.T.s for being to loud. 

Sirius skipped over to them, grinning like a madman. 'Hello,' he said, pulling out a stool to sit on. 'I _was_ going to tell you something, but as you appear to be occupied-'

'Just tell us, Sirius.' Lily interrupted. 

'Well…Let's just say we might not have to deal with Snape any more.' If possible, his smile broadened. 

Lily wasn't paying much attention, because she was concentrating on the game and trying to keep her chessmen quiet. They had a horrible habit of screaming at James's pieces, and knocking them out before they were supposed to.

'Oh?' She said distractedly. 'Is he going to get expelled? Serves the slimy git right.' She punctuated this by capturing one of James's knights. 

James, however, looked at Sirius suspiciously. 'What have you done?' 

'Nothing,' Sirius answered loftily. 'I'll leave you two alone.' He added the last part in a whisper. 

'Why?' Lily asked. Then she rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, Sirius, this chess game is just _so_ romantic, it just makes me want to _throw_ myself at James.' 

Sirius shrugged. 'We all have our problems.'

'Padfoot, sit down and stop being an idiot. Can't you tell sarcasm when you hear it?'

'Yeah, I wouldn't throw myself at James if you paid me.' Lily glared at James then, because he'd taken her Queen. 

'Why ever not? I could name at least ten others who'd be more than willing.'

James grimaced. 

'Of course I wouldn't throw myself at James,' Lily muttered. '…I might hurt him.' 

Sirius snorted with laughter. 'Poor, weak, Prongs.' Lily ducked under the table to avoid the pillow James had thrown at her, and then she yawned. 

'Well. Let's just say I've won this game.' Before James could object, she had tipped her chess pieces into a box, and was walking over to the girl's staircase, calling goodnight to them over her shoulder. 

'Sirius?' James asked halfway through a game of exploding snap. 

'Yeah?' 

'What have you done?'

'Well.' Sirius put on a mysterious air. 'You know how Snape can be real nosy sometimes?'

'Yes.'

'And, you know how-' he lowered his voice '-he's been trying to figure out why Moony is always gone at the full moon?' 

James didn't like where this conversation was going. 'Yeah?'

'Well. I told him that if he was so eager to know, why doesn't he press the knot in the trunk of the Whomping Willow?' 

James stared at his seemingly insane and mentally unstable best friend. 'You didn't!' 

'Why? What's the worst that can happen?' 

'Padfoot, you are so dim sometimes. Remus'll get expelled if he bites Snape. And Snape'll either become a werewolf or he'll die. We can't just let him go there!' 

'Why ever not?'

James didn't answer him. He started up the girl's staircase. 'Uh, James?' Sirius called. 

'What?' 

'That's not the right staircase.'

'I know that, twit. I lent Lily the cloak.' He raced up the staircase, and appeared a few moments later, tucking the cloak into his pocket. 

'Where are you going?' Sirius asked. He was immediately echoed by a very sleepy Lily. 

'Out.' James said shortly. Lily and Sirius stared after him. 

'Do you know where he's going?' Lily asked him, rubbing her eyes. 

'Yeah. I've got to go.' He climbed out the portrait hole, leaving a very confused Lily standing by herself. 

'Hmph.' She pulled a face. 'They never tell me _anything_.' She muttered, stomping back upstairs. 

Sirius raced along the corridors, not even stopping to apologise to Professor McGonagall when he bumped into her.

He was just skidding into the hall where the entrance to Professor Dumbledores study was, when he ran into the Professor himself. 

'Professor--- Dumbledore.' He panted, clutching his side. 'James went after Snape--- they'll die--- you've got--- to help them.' He looked furious with himself. Dumbledore didn't smile, but he patted Sirius on the shoulder and then dashed along the long hallways, taking short cuts no one else even knew existed. Except the four Marauders, perhaps. 

He was just running out into the moonlight when he saw two fairly tall figures emerging from the Whomping Willow, the taller of the two pulling the other along. 

He rushed over to them. 'Mr Potter?'

'Yeah?' James sounded shaky. 

'Is Mr Snape alright?' 

'Yeah. He's okay.' Snape proved this by falling backwards in a dead faint. Professor Dumbledore conjured up a stretcher and it glided along besides them as they made their way up to the hospital wing, Professor Dumbledore questioning James all the way. He explained how Sirius had told Severus everything, how he'd chased his enemy along the tunnel, and pulled him back before they'd come face to face with a werewolf. 

'How did Severus come to know about the tunnel?' Professor Dumbledore sounded very serious all of a sudden.

James sighed. 'Sirius told him. I think they were having an argument or something. Snape- Severus wanted to know where Remus goes every full moon. So Sirius said that if he really wanted to find out, there's knot on the trunk of the Whomping Willow. It was stupid, I know. But he won't be expelled, will he?' James sounded anxious. 

'No, Mr Black will not be expelled. But he must realise the seriousness of his actions.' He paused. 'That was a very brave thing you did today. Not many would have done it.'

James shrugged. 'I couldn't let Remus get expelled. And even though _he's_ a- er- well, we're not exactly _fond_ of each other.' He gestured at Snape, who was snoring softly. 

The Headmaster laughed gently. 'Yes, I know.'

'Anyway, I couldn't let him die. Umm- can I go now? It's just I don't want to be around when Snape- _Severus_ wakes up. He might be feeling a bit nasty.'

'Yes, yes. But before you go, does anyone else know about Remus's--er-- condition?' 

'Well… I do…And Sirius. And Peter. You know, Pettigrew. I'm not sure about Lily. I think she might guess, but we haven't told her anything.' 

'Why is that?' Professor Dumbledore asked gently.

'Umm… We didn't think Remus would want her to know. He likes her and everything, and…I don't think that she wouldn't like him any more… he doesn't want everyone to know, I guess. I don't want to break my promise'

The Professor nodded, smiling. 'You'd better go to bed. Please tell Mr Black I'd like to see him in the morning before breakfast.' James nodded. 

He turned to leave, but looked back over his shoulder. 'Professor?' 

'Yes James?' 

'Er…Snape won't tell anyone about Remus, will he?' 

'No. I will make sure Mr. Snape does not tell a soul. I will talk to Mr Lupin as well.' 

'Thanks.' He smiled and left the room slowly. 

'James?' Dumbledore called out as the boy reached the door. 

'What?' 

'Thankyou for going after him.'

'You would've done the same thing.' He left. 

The next morning, Sirius left early to go to the Headmasters office, looking gloomier than Lily had ever seen him. 'He looks like someone's died,' she commented. 'No one _has_ died, have they?' 

James shook his head. 'Nah. I think he's played one too many tricks on Snape, for once.' 

'What? Is he in trouble?'

'You could say that.' James became very interested with his owl. 

__

'James.' Lily pulled a face. 'Why won't you tell me?' 

'He-- just played a stupid trick on Snape, that's all.' 

'Whatever.' She shrugged, seeing that James wasn't going to tell her. 'You owe me a butterbeer.' 

'Since when?'

'Since now. I've decided.'

'Okay. I'll buy you a butterbeer if you pay for it.'

'You wish, Potter.'

They walked out the common room together, playfully tugging at each other's hair. 

Sirius reappeared after breakfast, looking extremely sad. 'Detention. Every night after school for three weeks.' He sighed, then perked up slightly. 'But you got 50 points for Gryffindor, Prongs.'

James shrugged, and Lily looked more annoyed every second. _'What_ did you _do_? _Tell_ me!' 

Sirius glanced apologetically at her. 'Look, Lily. We can't tell anyone. Dumbledore made us promise. But you'd be the first one that we'd tell if we could.' James nodded in agreement. 

'Yeah. We're really sorry, Lil'.'

'S'okay.' She grinned. 'Now you owe me two butterbeers.'

'No way. I'm not even paying for the first one.'

'Oh, aren't you?'

'Ooh, James. You're in for it now.' 

'Shut up, Sirius.' 

'Well. I'm going to have my lunch.' She stomped off. 

'Prongs?'

'Yeah?'

'You still not gonna buy that drink for her?'

''Course I'm not.'

Sirius shook his head sadly. 

They walked into the Great Hall, talking about Quidditch. They spotted Lily sitting by herself at one end of the table, shovelling down her lunch like there was no tomorrow.

'Er, Lily?' Sirius asked, sitting down across from her. 

'What?' She said through a mouthful of apple crumble. 

'We know you want that butterbeer, but don't you think this is a bit drastic?'

She choked on the apple crumble. When she'd had a drink and had coughed half the pie up all over James' robes, she sat still for a moment, breathing deeply. 

Finally, she spoke. 'I just have to do something.' She grinned apologetically at James, glancing at his robes. 'I guess I can let you off that butterbeer. But, uh, you will wash your clothes won't you?' 

'Thanks for that piece of advice, Lily. What would I do without you?'

'Fail Charms.' She pushed back her plate and hurried out. 

__

'Well.' Sirius looked at James. 'You're not _that_ bad at Charms.' 

That weekend, James, Sirius, Remus and Lily wandered around Hogsmeade, stocking up on tricks from Zonko's and sitting in the Three Broomsticks, discussing what to do with their new supply. High on the list was get Snape, but they had also bought a lot of stuff that Lily didn't have a clue what to do with.

With the end of term approaching, Lily and Remus were busy studying for the end of year exams. James and Sirius, however, had much bigger things on their minds. 

'Like what?' Lily wanted to know when they mentioned this. Remus snorted into his book. 

'Wouldn't you like to know,' James said with a grin. 

'Yeah, I would like to know.' She glared at him. 

'Er, well…Ask Sirius.'

Sirius grinned mischievously. _'Sweet_ Lily,' he began.

She narrowed her eyes. 

'Okay. Terrifying Lily.'

'Sirius, you are getting this close-' she held up her hand '-to getting cursed.' 

'Okay, okay. We're just planning…revenge, I suppose you could call it.'

'On?'

'Lily. My dear Lily. Who do you think?'

'Snape. But what are you going to do?'

'Now, that's a trade secret.' 

Lily turned to James. 'Will you tell me?' 

'Umm…' He glanced at Sirius. 'Sorry, Lily.'

'Okay, okay. I give up. But I still say you should study.'

They weren't even listening to her. 

The end of year exams were never as bad as everyone expected. Well, they were sometimes, but James and his gang were so clever they hardly noticed a change in routine. 

The five of them sat on Hogwarts Express, testing out some of the new products from Zonkos. The time flew by quickly, all to soon the train was pulling up at Kings Cross, and they had to pull their trunks off the train, and get out of the barrier. 

Sirius was avoiding his younger cousin, who was visiting, and he hid behind James trunk, curled up in a ball. 

Lily didn't have to avoid her cousins, as no one had turned up to pick her up yet. Soon James, Remus and Sirius had all left (Sirius quite dejectedly) and she was left standing all alone, being pushed from side to side by muggles who only cared about catching their trains. 

It started to rain. 

When her aunt finally pulled up in her old van, Lily was soaking, her long hair hanging down her back in strands. 

'I'm so sorry, dear,' she apologised endlessly, and only became quiet when she realised Lily wasn't listening.

At a red light, she turned around to look at her youngest niece and saw a silver tear trickle down her cheek. 

'Lily?' 

No answer. 

'Lily, dear? Are you okay?'

'Fine. I'm fine.' She forced a smile, then went back to staring out the window. 

__

I wish mum was here. 

Well. That was a bit long, was it not? Took awhile to write. 

Disclaimer: I hate these things. They make me sad. You know nothing's mine, I know nothing's mine. Do we have to bring it up? No, we don't. But we still do. Since we do, I'll say it. It's all Joanne Kathleen Rowling's. Got it? Good. So you should. 

The mind behind this story (Starlight. Otherwise known as Sarah-jane) would very much like you to review her little -or big- story, because she would then think very highly of you. And because she likes reviews. Lots and lots. 

To Christa Crabbe- this is only your second favourite -_tie_ with second favourite? *sniffs* What's your first fave? I want to read it. Thanks for the compliment. And everyone else, too. 

Does anybody like black jelly-beans? I do…so…strange tasting. Yet nice. 


	7. More letters and why you wouldn't want t...

Narri- I didn't e-mail this to you? Oops. That means that someone out there now has a copy of this…they probably looked at it like 'what the hell is this?' Anyway, sorry. 

Umm…Thanks everybody who reviewed. Someone asked if they were a couple. I actually don't know the answer to that. James and Lily seem to have minds of their own. I think they are, sort of. They just don't want to admit it. 

****

The Flower and the Stag

Part 7 

A very skinny young woman and a rather fat young man were sitting on the back porch early during the summer, discussing extremely boring subjects, and somehow finding pleasure in it. The woman had stringy blonde hair and an abnormally long neck, which she kept craning whenever there were sounds of life in the house next door. 

The mans moustache was obviously just being grown, and his two chins wobbled continually as he spoke, laughing at jokes that really weren't funny at all. They were talking about drills. Big drills, small drills, electric drills and every other kind of drill you could think of. Well, the man was. The woman was nodding politely, occasionally saying 'yes, yes,' or 'no, of course not.' She was also carefully avoiding one particular subject. Unfortunately for her, some loud noises coming from the driveway told her that the subject she was so painstakingly avoiding was approaching, and very rapidly at that. 

Petunia Cooper stared at the door, waiting for it to burst open, and completely missed Vernon Dursley's question. He repeated it. 'Who's that?' He sounded mildly curious, maybe because it sounded as though a stampede was coming their way. 

Petunia sighed, and was about to attempt shoving him in a cupboard (which really wouldn't have worked) when the door burst open, revealing two teenage boys, both laughing. The smaller of the two was seated on the taller one's back, gripping tightly to his neck. 

The next moment, two more figures came through the door in the same fashion, only the girl who had her arms around the black haired boy's neck was shouting accusations at the other two, but didn't appear particularly threatening, probably because all four of them kept laughing. 

'Sirius Black, you cheated!' 

The tallest boy grinned. 'Me? Madam, you must be mistaken. The only reason you didn't win that race- that highly _fair_ race- is because of your set of legs.'

'My legs? My legs aren't even on the ground.' 

The black haired boy nodded. 'Yeah, they're suffocating me around the waist.' 

The girl blushed. 'Oops. Sorry.' She loosed her grip on him, and then noticed their audience. 

'Oh, hi Petunia.' She said, somewhat cheerfully. 

'Hello Lily.' Petunia smiled thinly. 'This is Vernon Dursley. Vernon, this is my sister. Lily.' 

He nodded to her by way of saying hello. 

She grinned at him. 'Hullo. This is James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.' She gestured to each of them in turn. 

He eyed them all suspiciously, and Lily climbed down of James's back, whispering something in his ear. He nodded, and led the other two inside, shutting the door gently behind them. 

'So.' Petunia said, obviously trying to keep calm. 'You brought your friends home?'

'Yeah. Where'd you two meet?'

'At a meeting.' Vernon answered, wondering how this red haired girl with such strange eyes could possibly be Petunia's sister. 

'Oh. Well, James was going to help with some stuff for school. I guess Sirius and Remus were bored.'

They nodded. 'So.' Lily said, trying to make conversation. 'What were you talking about?' 

'Drills.' Petunia answered shortly. 

'Oh. How…fascinating.' She nodded politely, and then a loud crash from inside distracted her. 

'Well, I'll leave you two to your drills. I think Sirius's broken some plates… Hopefully nothing bigger then that.' She grinned, and then dashed in, praying she wouldn't find anything too unrepairable inside. 

As she entered, all three boys looked guiltily, and Sirius grinned weakly. 

'What've you done?' She sighed, trying to peer around James. 

'Er-' Sirius paused for a second, and turned around again to survey the damage. 'I'm not exactly sure. It looks bad…But I'm no expert. You might just be able to fix it with a little glue.' 

'Great.' She came over and inspected the scene before her. 'Oh dear. It might be good if you guys went home now. That was my aunt's favourite vase.'

'It was?'

'Really?' 

'Sorry.' 

She grinned. 'Nah, it's okay.'

'You mean she won't mind?'

'Yeah…she will mind. She'll actually be on the warpath for several hours. But we'll be nicely hidden at James's house then, won't we?' 

'Er- we will?'

'Yes.' She tugged them towards the fireplace. 'We will be there for quite awhile. Or at least until Aunt Lucy forgets.'

'So exactly how long will you be staying at my place?'

'Not that he minds,' Sirius put in.

'A few weeks…Or I might be able to slip home while mum's watching television. That could be our best option.'

'Yes. We'll try for that. We don't want you at my house for the rest of the holidays, do we?'

'We don't? I thought you-' Sirius's voice was muffled by James's hand. 'No.' He said when James had taken his hand away. 'Of _course_ we don't want you there.' 

Lily rolled her eyes, and then jumped into the fireplace, after sprinkling in the floo powder. 

'Aberdene!' She disappeared. 

The boys followed her, and soon all four of them were sprawled around James's living room, discussing brooms. Lily gazed at the ceiling, not paying complete attention, as she really didn't care which broom she rode, as long as it didn't hurl her right of the end of it to the ground. 

'But those Silver arrows are pretty good,' Sirius insisted. 

'Nah…I like that new model, the Shooting Star.'

'Yeah…those are really good. But they get a bit off-balance in really strong wind. Read it in the Daily Prophet.' Sirius seemed quite pleased with himself for attaining such fascinating information 

'Did you? Show me. We haven't been getting it lately, mums been real busy.'

James rummaged around for the Daily Prophet. 'Which issue was it?' He asked Sirius.

'Um…A couple of weeks ago, I think.' 

He emerged with several issues of the Prophet, and gave them to Remus to look through. 

'Oh yeah.' He muttered. 'But they're still one of the best. I mean, the Silver Arrows can't climb as well as other models. They sort of slow down on the uptake.' 

Sirius shrugged. Lily yawned loudly, and the other three turned to look at her. James grinned. 

'Lily?'

Lily glanced up. 'Mmm?' 

'You are allowed to change the subject.' 

She suddenly looked quite awake. 'Oh, goody. Well. See, I've been thinking. What are you going to do when we leave Hogwarts? I don't really know what there is to do, and I want to spend the least time I possible can with Mary and Petunia.' She looked a bit downcast, and a long strand of hair fell down over her eyes, making her look very forlorn and lost. 

'I dunno.' Sirius scratched his head. 

All four of them lay on the carpet on their backs, each thinking the same thing in their own kind of way. 

'We could be Aurors!' Sirius said. 'How 'bout it, Prongs?' 

James laughed, tracing the pattern of the carpet with his finger. 'I don't know…I really don't.'

Lily sat up. 'Jo wants to be a reporter or something like that. I'm not quite sure. She's got big plans.' 

James rolled over and looked at her. 'Do you?' 

'Have big plans?' James nodded. '…I don't know what there is to do, really. I mean, there's teaching, there are jobs for the ministry…I just don't want to spend my whole life behind a desk, that's all. I want to help people, actually do something for them.' 

James nodded, smiling. 'You'll find something. How 'bout you, Moony?' 

Remus sighed. 'I haven't thought about it.' 

Sirius looked at him curiously, as though he were about to say something, but then changed his mind. 

'I want to be an Auror.' He said firmly. 'I'm sick of reading the Daily Prophet and hearing about more people being killed. It makes be sick.'

'That's what Frank wants to be. Maybe I'll come too…' James sat up with Lily, and for a moment all for teenagers sat looking thoughtful, thinking about everything and nothing, things that mattered and things that were just there, and there was nothing they could do about it. 

Sirius broke the silence. 'Well.' He said finally. 'We can't just sit here all day. Off we go!' 

'Where?' Lily said from her comfortable position on the ground, leaning against James's back. 

'Where what?' 

She laughed. 'Where are we going?' 

'You are going to see the most amazing thing you ever did see.'

'Oh?' Remus at up and looked at his friend quizzically. 'What's that?' 

'Okay, maybe not the most amazing thing. But pretty darn cool. How many brooms do have, Prongs?' 

James scratched his head, thinking about it. 'Three, I think. We did have four, but one of them was ancient, and it lost its sense of direction completely. Kept crashing, even when you tried to steer it.' 

Sirius nodded. 'Well, me and Remus can have a broom each, and you two love birds can share.' He glanced at his friends, then backed down as he saw the identical murderous looks in their eyes. 

'Although,' he reasoned, 'you could always share with me, Lily.' He grinned cheekily. 'I wouldn't mind.' 

She rolled her eyes, and edged closer to James. 'I might just stick with Prongs…' She glared at Sirius. 'Because he's a better flier.' 

Sirius snorted, and Remus laughed. 

'You two both know the way to my house, don't you?' He directed this question at James and Remus, who both nodded. 

'Good. Come on, then. What're we waiting for?' And with his usual exuberance, he bounced off, looking for the brooms. 

'Uh, Sirius?' James called. 

'Yeah?' 

'They're in _that_ cupboard.' 

'Oops.' He grinned, and a bit of his longish black hair fell over his forehead, making him look quite like his animagus appearance. 

They collected all three brooms, one of them being James's usual broom, dusted the other two off (his parents barely used them) and then saddled them in James's backyard, after checking no one was around. 

'How do we get up without anyone seeing us?' Lily wondered out loud, puzzled. 

'Talent, m'dear.' Sirius flew up so quickly then, far into the clouds, until it looked at though there was very small bird flying around in circles in the clouds, far up in the sky. Remus followed, and though he wasn't quite as quick (he still hadn't completely mastered broomsticks), he too was soon out of view, and the only thing he and Sirius might come across would be aeroplanes. 

James turned around to look at her, a mischievous on his face. 'Ready?' 

'Er- no?' She smiled weakly. 

'Hold on tight.' His grin became slightly less cheeky, and he smiled reassuringly at her. 'Don't be scared, Lily.' He patted her arm. 'I'd never let you fall.' 

The next moment, before Lily could even scream, they were flying directly upwards. Lily wondered if James could breathe, and loosened her grip around his waist ever so slightly, then decided it wasn't worth it and held on for dear life. 

A faint mist swept over them as clouds engulfed them, and Lily felt slightly damp. It was a pleasant feeling, and as James flew around, searching for Remus and Sirius, she felt relaxed and held on to him gently. 

Sirius was showing off, doing loop the loops and scaring of innocent birds who had flown up to see what all the hullabaloo was about. 

Once all four of them were together, they flew off, keeping just above the clouds or in them, but never daring to dart under them, as they couldn't afford any muggles to spot four kids flying through the air on broomsticks. 

'We'd practically be sent to Azkaban,' James muttered, so quietly that only Lily heard him. 

'What's that?' She asked curiously, feeling like she had during her first year, when she barely knew anything about the wizarding community. 

'The Wizard Prison.' James said quietly. 'It's horrible there. Dad told me about it. There's these things, called Dementors. They're like- like- they're just evil. They've got no souls, and if they get to close to you they suck out your soul.' Lily felt him shudder, and held him tighter, trying to make him feel better. He rose out of the clouds suddenly, and a rush of sunlight hit their faces, making the whole world seem golden. She raised her face up to the sun, and felt a warm breeze blow over her cheeks. 

'They suck the happiness out of a place,' James continued. 'Dad said it was awful. The worst place he'd ever been.'

'They wouldn't send us there if we got seen, would they?' She was beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea. 

James laughed. 'Nah, course they wouldn't. I was just kidding before.'

Lily breathed out. 'Good.' 

He turned around to face her. 'But we would be in an awful lot of trouble.' He grinned, and darted upwards, flying around in a circle. 

'JAMES POTTER!' Lily shrieked, practically choking him around his neck with fear. 'TURN AROUND!' He obediently did so, probably because he would a suffocated if doing otherwise. 

'Good. Never, ever do that again. Do you hear me?' 

'Aye aye, Madame Lily. Just one more?'

She tightened her grip as a warning, and James coughed. 'Okay, okay. I'll be good.'

Sirius flew up beside them. 'Hello. Having fun?' 

'If you call being billions of feet up in the air on a piece of wood 'fun' then, yes, I suppose we are.' Lily glanced down nervously, and Sirius and James laughed. Remus reappeared, looking slightly green. 'I agree with Lily. Are we nearly there yet?' 

Sirius checked something on his wrist. 'Umm…Not quite. About another ten minutes.' He looked quite happy about this, and Lily questioned his sanity. 

'How can you _enjoy_ being this high up? Do you just block it out? Or are you just crazy?' 

'Lily, have a sense of adventure.' 

'I've got one. It just doesn't include being billions of feet up in the air, as I mentioned earlier.' 

'We aren't _billions _of feet up in the air.' Remus interrupted. 'Only about- er- 20 thousand?' 

'Thankyou. I now feel _so_ much safer.'

'Good. That's what I'm here for.'

A few minutes later, they slowed down and Sirius peeked below the clouds to see if anyone was about. 

'Okay…Now!' Three broomsticks rocketed downwards, so fast if any muggles had seen it would just have looked like something falling out of the sky. 

James landed first, Sirius a few seconds after, and Remus plummeted to earth a couple of seconds after that, a look of terror on his face as he approached the ground as an alarming rate. 

James looked worried, and Sirius muttered something that Lily could only just hear. 'D'you think he'll be able to stop?' 

'Yeah…' James sounded uneasy. 

Before anyone could do anything, or say anything, or even make any bets on whether or not Remus would smash into the ground and become quite flat, he straightened his broomstick and toppled onto the grass, looking very dazed and slightly amazed with his feat. 

Lily leapt of the broom she was seated on and hugged Remus fiercely. She danced him around in a circle, and one of the neighbours who was putting their washing on the line was amused by seeing a teenage girl with very windblown hair skipping around in a circle with a very green looking boy, who looked as though the last thing he needed was to be danced around in a circle. 

She grinned at him. 'We survived!' 

'Just,' he couldn't help muttering. James laughed, and placed the broomsticks under a hedge where no one would find them. 

'Where's Sirius?' Lily couldn't see him anywhere, and she craned her neck to see into the house, which looked very empty. 

'Gone to get his-' James's words were drowned out by a loud roar of a machine. 

'WHAT?' Lily yelled over the noise. 

'HIS-' The roar grew louder, and a few seconds later, a large motorcycle appeared, chugging away happily. Sirius patted it fondly as if it were a pet dog. He turned the motor down and the large bike continued to purr, but much more softly. 

Lily felt her ears, then tested them by talking to James. 'That was what he wanted to show us? A motor bike? My next door neighbour has one of them, and they're always riding off at very rude hours- like three in the morning- and I never get to sleep.'

'Lily, Lily. Anyone would think that you were a muggle. This is no ordinary motorbike. Hop on.' 

She back away, shaking her head firmly. 

'No. No way… Do you think I'm a complete nutcase?' 

'Come on, you rode with James. I _know_ you're a nutcase.'

'Tell me what's so special and then I might- _might_- consider it.' 

'Er- it flies?' 

'It flies? It FLIES!' NO WAY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU GETTING ME ON ONE OF THOSE THINGS IF IT FLIES!' She paused for breath, and in this brief state of helplessness, James and Sirius (more Sirius) shoved her onto the bike. 'HELP!' She turned to Remus and he back away slightly, waving with a little grin on his face. 

'No. No no no no no.' She wailed as Sirius turned up the motor, and as they rose in the air she shrieked every word she knew and prayed to God at the same time. 

Before she had even had time to ask for him to look after her cousins (she would only ask this during a very desperate time) the bike had slowed down and they were riding along the clouds. It was a bit more bumpy than being on a broom, but much more noisy. 

Sirius turned around, grinning, looking remarkably like a Cheshire cat.

'Having fun?' He yelled over the sound the motor and the wind, which was picking up speed. 

She poked her tongue out, but couldn't help laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. He took this as a good sign, but before they went back down, he glanced at his waist, and then raised his eyebrows at Lily, who blushed, and released her grip on his t-shirt. 

After a few minutes of riding around like this, he descended just as quickly, and landed very softly on the grass in his backyard. Lily hopped off, and brushed her hair down roughly with fingers. 

'Fun?' James asked, laughing at the look on her face. 

'It was okay…I guess.' 

'Come on,' Sirius said, coming over after he'd put the bike away. 'You loved it. Just admit it, Lily Cooper. Although I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to get the fingernail marks out of my skin. You've got some set of nails there, girl.' She grinned at him, and then looked up at the sky and at the moon, which was becoming clearer as the sun set below the horizon. 

'I think my aunts favourite show's on now,' she said thoughtfully. 'We might be able to go.' 

'So soon?' 

Lily laughed. 'Yeah. But can I just go home by floo powder? I think I've had enough of flying for one day.'

'I _think_ we've got some left.'

'You'd better. I don't think my stomach could handle another flying trip.' 

'Oh. As in, you'd throw up all over me?' 

'Something like that.' 

'Ohh. We have lots left, in that case.' 

James rolled his eyes, and just before she stepped into the fireplace, he whispered something in her ear. She turned pink, grinned, then yelled out her address and was swallowed by the green flames. 

'What'd you say?' Remus said, looking up from the hand wrestle he and Sirius were involved in.

'Nothing,' James answered loftily. 

Sirius pushed Remus's hand down onto the table and grinned triumphantly. 

Lily woke up on the morning of her seventeenth birthday feeling…exactly the same as she had the day before. 

She pushed the blankets aside and leapt over to the mirror. She stared at herself suspiciously. She didn't look any different. At least, nothing big. She now had sunburn across her nose from her expedition with Sirius, James and Remus, but apart from that, she looked exactly the same. 

Lily flopped back down onto bed, feeling disappointed. Seventeen sounded a lot more grown up than sixteen did. But if anyone saw her, they wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. 

Lily walked back over to the mirror, and tried to find at least one little thing that might possibly different to the way it had the day before. Nothing. Not one little thing. She sighed, and raised a hand to brush back a stray strand of hair which had found its way into her mouth. Something on her wrist glimmered and sparkled, until she looked down at her wrist. A silver charm bracelet was hanging loosely, the clasp on it clipped up tightly. 

__

How in the world? 

That bracelet had most definitely not been there when she went to sleep. At least, she was pretty sure it hadn't. Maybe everyone got a bracelet when they turned seventeen. Some how though, this theory didn't seem very likely. 

She was just inspecting it when three owls flew in the window. Two tawny brown owl, and Pickles. The famous green owl that had absolutely no sense of direction. She was amazed it had made it again, because James had fed it some weird sort of owl pellet. It had made Pickles very dizzy, until they realised he was allergic to the pellets. It had actually been very funny, seeing a bizarre looking owl fly straight into the wall. 

Both the brown owls were carrying two parcels, and poor Pickles was struggling with three boxes wrapped up in brown paper, and a letter was tied to one of his wings with a (magical) gluey paste stuff. 

She rescued Pickles first, and ran downstairs to get them all some water. 

As all three owls sat around the water bowl, sipping at the cool drink happily, Lily was sitting cross- legged on her bed, ripping the paper off the largest of the gifts. A letter fell out onto the blue pattern of her sheet.

__

Dear Lily,

How's my bestest seventeen year old buddy? Geez. Soon you'll be needing a walking cane. Hope you like the present, I picked it myself (sometimes mum buys them, and gets flowery dress robes and stuff. Yuck. You're lucky I was there to help) 

So. Seen lover boy? Sirius came over a few days ago, acting like…well, Sirius. Which could mean a chimp…or a very hyper dog. It's strange, don't you think, the way he seems so doggish? -Don't tell him I said that. 

Anyway, I hope you have a great birthday. 

Lots and lotsa love,

Jo 

Lily grinned, and tipped the present out of paper that was left. A fairly large box landed softly on the bed. It opened and a soft, furry teddy bear fell out, its green eyes (which matched Lily's own) stared straight ahead, and a cute smiley mouth was stitched onto its fluffy face. 

'Aww.' Lily grinned and picked it up, patting its head. 'Now what shall I call you?' She noticed a small piece of parchment tied around one of the bears' paws. 

I was thinking you could call it James. 

Lily rolled her eyes. As if she was going to call it James…but it did look a bit like him, now that she thought about it. 

No way. She was not going to call it James. No how, no when… But it was so cute! Maybe if she just didn't tell it him about his namesake. Or anyone else, for that matter. 

'Yes.' She patted James the Seconds tummy. 'You are a cute little thing, aren't-' There was a knock on the door and Lily was cut off mid sentence. Mary, Petunia, Matt and Davie entered, two grinning, the other two looked as though they would have rather said happy birthday to a vampire. 

'Happy Birthday!' Matt hugged her, and looked at James the Second, who sat grinning smugly at their audience. 

'Cute. Who'd you get it from?' 

'My friend.' She peeked behind her cousin's back, trying to see the present he was hiding. "What'd you get me?' 

'Oh, nothing. We almost forgot altogether.' He grinned at her, and Petunia yawned loudly. 

'Yeah, right. Hand it over.' 

Matt grinned and gave her a present, wrapped up in shiny blue and gold wrapping, which sparkled as the sun caught it. It was very lumpy, and stuck out at odd ends. Petunia was leaning against one wall, sulking. 

'Ooh. What is it?' 

Petunia rolled her eyes. 'Open it, dummy.'

Lily was in too good a mood to snap back at her, so she did just that. Some folds of material spilled out onto the floor, and as she ripped the last of the wrapping off and threw it into her bin, a silky blue dress slithered to the floor, the new material shining a deep blue and silver. It was beautiful.

'Thankyou!' She leapt up and hugged each of her cousins in turn, and she even gave Petunia a quick squeeze. Lily hugged Matt last of all, and danced around a tiny area of floor, squealing 'thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!' 

When she had calmed down and all of her visitors except Matt had left, she plopped down onto her bed, her new dress on her lap. 

'Where'd you get it?'

'Ah…Now that's a trade secret.' 

Lily shrugged. 'Anyway, it's beautiful. It must have cost a fortune.'

'Nah…Got no fortune to spend. Let's just say I have a very good friend who is pretty darn good with her fingers.' 

Lily grinned. 'I don't suppose that would be a girl?' 

'It might be.'

She giggled. 'What's her name?'

Matt sat up and looked at the rest of her presents. 'Open these. I want to see what magical people buy as presents.'

Lily shrugged. 'Just ordinary stuff.' 

'So open them.'

'Not until you tell me her name.' 

'It's Emily. Happy?'

'Extremely.' She picked up the next gift and shook it. 'Hmm. I think this is from Sirius.' 

'Sirius, eh? I don't think I've met him. Is he cute?'

'He was the one who broke your mums' vase. And if I said he was cute I'd be murdered by my best friend, who thinks he's the most gorgeous think after my goo. But he might come before that.' 

Matt laughed. 'So open it.' 

There was another box in this parcel, and when she opened it some small and silver things gleamed as the sun hit them. She opened the lid further, revealing four tiny charms, all of which were moving. There was a little itty bitty horse, which was prancing on the spot and neighing silently, a cute little rabbit which was jumping about, a horse shoe that shined rainbow, and a tiny water lily, which fluttered in an invisible breeze.

'Wow.' She murmured, amazed Sirius could pick something so nice out. 

__

Dear Lil' 

How's it going? You recovered from our little trip? The charms are to go with your bracelet. Hope you like them, there were so many to choose from and it was incredibly hard to pick. The others all wanted to strangle me for taking so long. Now Jo expects something really good for her birthday, but I'm having one slight problem. I don't know when her birthday is. So you'll have to tell me, won't you? Send back a reply with Pickles (the amazing psycho owl, I don't know why James won't turn her back) and I hope you have a great seventeenth birthday. You'd better.

Love,

Padfoot

P.S. If you have some birthday cake left over, I don't suppose you'd save me some? It's just my family has decided we're only eating healthy food from now on. I'm telling you, I haven't seen something with sugar in it for weeks. Apart from that lollipop I stole off Remus's bench. Never EVER take something off his bench. It must have been a year old. 

SB 

Lily rolled her eyes at this typical Sirius letter, but made a mental note to save him some birthday cake. 

She placed the charms next to the teddy (with Matt goggling at them the whole time) and picked up the next gift. 

It was a horseshoe from Holly, but like all magical gifts, it did something. This had miniature clocks all the way around it, telling the time in all different countries. Lily had no idea for when she'd need it, but it was pretty cool all the same. 

Dear Lily, 

I hope your holidays are better then mine. I won't go into details (although I'd like to, but you really don't want to know). Is the present okay? I honestly don't know what you're going to do with it, but it was the only thing I could find. Besides, if someone goes overseas you'll be able to know what they're doing. (Sort of, anyway). Do you like the bracelet? - I'll bet you do. If you don't, give it to me. I'd be glad to have it. 

Anyway, have a great birthday.

Holly

Remus's present was a lot heavier, and the package contained a book (_All about Charms (advanced) By Christina Starr_) and another tiny charm. It was a miniature four-leaf clover, which shone green and silver, emitting a mysterious light from somewhere inside it. 

__

Hey, Lily

I'm not really sure what you're going to do with the book (you've already got so many) but I thought it might come in useful. After all, you need to beat James in something. The charm's for the bracelet -which, by the way, I think is pretty cool. The four-leaf clover was my favourite one there. Sirius wanted to get it for you, but I beat him to it. Ha! 

Have a great birthday, and don't eat too much cake.

Remus 

She put the charm with the other ones she had so far, and placed the book next to the rapidly growing pile of gifts. 

There were only two presents left for her to open, and a letter. Matt remembered he was running very late for soccer (yikes! The coach'll kill me!) And so she settled against her pillows comfortably as she opened a very lumpy present from Hagrid, the Gamekeeper at Hogwarts. 

Dear Lily,

Just writing to wish you a very happy birthday. 

From Hagrid. 

Lily winced as around five of Hagrids famous rock cakes rolled around the bed-spread, and sat looking just as rocky as ever in the large crevice Lily had been sitting in. She shoved them into a plastic bag, pulling a face. 

The next was from Lianne and Laura, who must have been feeling generous. 

Dear Lily,

Have a great birthday. Hope all your dreams come true,

Lianne and Laura

P.S. Are you and James still together? Tell us when school starts. 

She rolled her eyes, but apparently they knew about the bracelet, because they too had sent three little charms. A little cat that curled up on an invisible rug, and washed its paws. The little mouse was terrified of the cat (which didn't even see it) and it tried to hide behind the horse, who was getting very grumpy with it, and tried to kick in into the depths of James the Seconds fur. Lily separated them and took a closer look at the third charm. 

It was a very, very small book, with pages made of finely cut silver. Lily wished she could use magic to enlarge it, but the stupid office for the use of magic with underage minors had banned all magic over the holidays, probably because James and Sirius had blown up some poor muggles shed. 

The very last and smallest of the lot was left sitting all alone, wrapped in a pale purple tissue paper. It smelled like lavender, and she knew exactly who it was from. She thought she did, anyway. 

A very, very small charm, smaller than all the others, landed on her lap. It glimmered and sparkled, and as Lily brought it closer to her face so she could see it better, she noticed it was shining different colours, like a rainbow pouring out a rock. 

It was a pearl, or a diamond, or something very pretty that combined them both together. She leaned even closer, and brought the tiny jewel right up to her face. A little L was engraved on one smooth side of the rock. 

Now only the letter was left. Lily picked it up and then looked towards the door, not wanting to be disturbed. Then she ripped it open carefully, and a piece of parchment with purpley blue ink scrawled across it fell neatly onto her lap. 

Dear Lily,

So, now you're seventeen. Getting old, aren't we? I don't particularly feel seventeen, but mum keeps reminding me whenever I'm rude (not that I'm ever rude) or I accidentally blow something up. Or I eat with my fingers. Apparently I'm a young man- wizard, whatever. It's becoming quite hard to forget. 

Do you like the bracelet? Sirius, Remus, Lianne, Laura, Holly and me all got you charms, so it should be nice. It was the best thing we could think of. 

I hate writing letters. They always turn out so boring. And I can never write as fast as I want. 

There's only one week left until school starts, so I'll see you then. 

Happy, happy birthday

Lots of Love,

James. 

P.S. Send a reply with Pickles. But it might be a good idea to let him have a rest first, because he might not be up to such a long trip straight away. He still hasn't recovered from the pellet incident. Thanks. 

Lily glanced down at the bracelet that dangled from her wrist, feeling very happy, but extremely puzzled at the same time. How had he managed to get it on her wrist in the middle of the night? She was prepared to guess that he flew over on Sirius's motorbike, but it seemed a bit unlikely, partly because James hated to be woken up during the night (though he didn't mind getting others up).

Shaking her head, she placed the bracelet and the charms in a little box she owned, and put the book and James the Second on her pillow. 

Then she hopped down the stairs, wondering what was for breakfast. 

James was bored. Very, very bored. How could life possibly be so boring? He'd run out of jokes, run out ideas (not good at all) and it was raining, so flying about with Sirius wasn't an option. 

He sighed, watching the droplets of rain trickles down the windowpane. Splat, splat, SPLAT! 

__

What the hell? 

He rolled his eyes as he opened the window, pulling a drenched and bewildered Pickles in from the storm. Pickles hooted weakly and then collapsed into a dead faint, creating a puddle on the desk James had dropped him on. 

The ink on the reply Lily had sent him was quite smudged, and he was only just able to interpret her message. 

__

Dear James,

How did you get the bracelet here? I can't figure it out, and it's getting very annoying. 

Oh, thanks for the bracelet. I love it, lots and lots. It's really cool. 

So…I don't have much else to say…see you soon.

Love,

Lily 

For a moment he sat smugly, pleased with himself. Then his dilemma came back in full scale, and he gazed out the window, almost deciding to do his Potions homework, then decided he wasn't _quite_ that desperate.

I found out a little while ago that in one of the earlier chapters I called Lily's owl Pickles. So sorry about that, I'll fix it when I can. She doesn't even have an owl now, does she? Oops. All the first parts came out pretty quickly -they were already written- but I've only just started writing the next part, and I'm doing _Lily Angel_, so it might take awhile. Sorry. 

Nothing is mine. So don't sue me. I spent all me money anyway, except five cents and there's nothing you can get with that. So there. 

I love reviewers, and I think people who flame others are really mean. I actually think they're something much worse than that, but I won't write it because I'm in a good mood. 

Luv ya'll 

Starlight 

PS I don't think anyone has flamed me yet. *grins* he he. And Redwood, you want more Remus? I'll try the next chapter. I'm not very good at writing Remus. BTW, I love -oh dear. I've forgotten the name. The series after when and if. That you're just starting. I love it. *nods her head* vezzy vezzy good. (_That_ was an imitation of my French teacher. Shudders.) 

__


	8. Lots of mush

Oh dear. You're all too clever. Yeah, I did write that James has blue eyes in one bit. Just forget that, okay? And I thought I'd gotten rid of that bit with her mum. *wails* I thought I _did_. I'm _very_ sorry about that. I changed it to her aunt. Or I _thought_ I did. I _knew_ something was wrong. Bother. Thankyou for telling me that. 

To Kayara Jessia Kambirlee Siriya Destiny Potter. You are now mentioned in an author's note. J Thanks for reviewing all the stories. It's really very nice of you. And did I spell your name right? 

I'm glad I didn't send that part to anybody else. I'm not as crazy as I thought. 

Christa Crabbe? I've read them. They're very good. Thanks for the compliment. Hallie U, you're not crazy _or_ mad. (As I earlier pointed out) where's the next part, eh? I WANT IT NOW! Got that? Good. 

If I keep typing, this could just be the story…or not. 

****

The Flower and the Stag

Part 7b

Lily was trying to tiptoe. Not that she really needed to, as from past experience she knew James was as deaf as a bat when Quidditch was the topic of discussion. Sirius saw her approaching, saw what she was going to do, and grinned. Lily tried not to laugh. 

Then she pounced. 

A few moments later, she discovered that it really is not a good idea to pounce on someone when they are standing on a trolley. Not that she knew this at the time. If she'd known, she probably wouldn't have done it. But she did. 

'AAAAAAAAA!' People scattered in the opposite direction, shrieking as an out of control trolley threatened to collide with them. 

A few minutes later, it was rolling along the ground slowly. 

James turned around to look at Lily. 'That really wasn't the smartest thing you've ever done,' he said, grinning. Lily stared at him. How could he grin at a time like this? But then, he enjoyed going for broomstick rides up in the clouds. He _was_ a bit insane. 

'I noticed,' she said dryly, checking to make sure all her body parts were present. 

'Would you like to ride back?' 

She thought about slapping him. She thought about pushing him down another hill. One with big, thorny bushes. In the end, she settled for ignoring him, and walked off, trying to ignore the angry looks people she had almost run into were throwing at her. 

James (being the athletic thing he was) chased her, and they walked back over to where their friends were standing, and (still) laughing. 

'Very clever, Lil. You almost killed the Head Boy.' 

'What? _He's_ Head Boy?' 

'I was shocked too,' Sirius reassured her. 'But, for some reason, Dumbledore actually thinks he's got some brains in his head.' He shook his head sadly. 

Lily stared at him, then at James. 

'What? I didn't _ask_ to be Head Boy.' 

Lily got on the train in a daze, and when the others found her, she had her head in her hands. 

She was mumbling to herself, and Sirius and James, who were standing in the doorway, exchanged glances. 

'What's wrong? Is one of the Hufflepuffs Head Girl or something?' James seemed to voicing something that had been bothering him. 

Lily looked up, her eyes wide. 'No… _I_ am.' 

Sirius started to laugh, until he was silenced by a look from Lily. 

'Are you? Well, that's okay then. I was worried it would be some Hufflepuff, like Katherine McDowell, who'd probably try to seduce me in the library.' James stuck out his tongue, pulling a horrible face. 

'But it is bad!' Lily wailed, shaking her head. 

Both Sirius and James looked confused. 'Do you mind us asking _why_?' 

Lily sniffed. 'It's just- just-' she stopped. 'I don't suppose it's that bad after all,' she said finally. 

'You are weird,' Sirius said, shaking his head. James just shrugged. 

'You can talk,' Lily said, grinning slightly. 'You're the one who made a motorbike that can fly. And you say _I'm_ unbalanced.' 

James sat down, and Sirius followed him. 'Oh, Lily.' Sirius checked to make sure no one was coming. 

'Mmm?' 

'Well, _do_ you know when Jo's birthday is?' 

'Yeah,' Lily said absently. 'I think it's sometime in April. I'll ask her, if you want.' 

'Okay.' Sirius sounded relieved. 

Then they played eye-spy until Holly, Jo and Remus and came in, all of them grinning. 

'What?' James asked suspiciously. 

'Well…' Remus trailed off, laughing. 

'What?' Lily repeated. 

'Nothing,' Jo said, nudging Holly in the ribs, which just made her laugh harder. 

'Fine, don't tell us. Sit down.' 

Later that night, the seventh years sat in the common room, talking about the NEWTS. James and Sirius weren't even the slightest bit worried about them, Holly and Peter was in a panic, Jo wasn't really worried (her theory was study the night before, if you don't know it, write notes on your hands) 

Lily was only worried about transfiguration (she _still_ couldn't get a toad to turn into a television) and Remus had other things on his mind. That was how he put it to the others, anyway. 

Everyone drifted off to bed, until Lily and James were the only ones left in the common room. They were talking about Snape, and various ways of revenge, when James said "are you ticklish?' 

Lily mumbled something incoherently. James grinned evilly. 

'Well? Are you?'

'If I say no, will you still tickle me?' 

'Yes.'

'If I say yes, will you still tickle me?'

'Yes.' 

Lily thought about it for a moment. 'Maybe I am, maybe I'm not.' 

'Well then, we'll just have to find out.' 

Lily shrieked and jumped behind the chair. James chased her around the room, laughing all the while, until Lily tripped and landed face down on a particularly large armchair. She tried to scramble up, but James was too quick, and pinned her down. 

The next few moments were a blur. They included Lily giggling hysterically, as (obviously) she was extremely ticklish. When James finally stopped torturing her, and they could both breathe save laughing, they lay back on the chair, looking at the ceiling. 

'James?' 

No answer. 

'James?'

Still no answer. Lily looked down at him. He was asleep, his glasses falling off the side of his face. Lily raised her arm to straighten them, and found (to her absolute horror) he was on her arm. 

'Great,' she moaned, not bothering to be quiet, as she definitely did not care if she woke him up. 

The first thought that entered James's mind the next morning was _'pillows don't move.' _But his pillow was. Up and down, up and down. How strange. He put his hand up to touch the pillow, and was promptly slapped. 

'Pillows don't have arms,' he muttered blearily, trying to find his glasses. 

'You really aren't a morning person, are you?' The pillow said dryly. 

James found his glasses wedged between two cushions and blinked. Lily was glaring at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. 

'Not exactly. Did you have to slap me? I thought you were a pillow.' 

'I figured.' 

James got up, running his fingers through his black hair, trying to get it to sit down flat. Lily watched him, grinning. 

'You going to get up?' James muttered, his finger caught on a knot. 

'No. Thanks to a certain somebody, I now have a dead arm. And apart from that, I'm not sure I want to get up with someone who thinks I'm a _pillow_.'

James shrugged. 'You do make a good pillow, though.' 

'Gee, thanks. I'm honoured.' Lily glanced at the clock and groaned. 'I barely got two hours of sleep last night,' she moaned, rubbing her eyes. 

'I slept like a log.' 

Lily glared at him. 'You really need to get something done about that habit of yours.'

'What habit?'

'You still talk in your sleep. How can you not know this?' 

'That's why it's called talking in your sleep. You're asleep while you talk.' James said crossly, evidently not very happy with this subject. 

'You talk about some very strange things,' Lily said, stretching as she got up slowly. 

'Such as?' 

Lily yawned. 'Well. You seem to have a thing about Hippogriffs.'

'Pardon?'

'You're always talking about them. And then there's stars. You kept telling me -or someone else- that the brightest star is Sirius. And that you've been to the Milky Way. Crazy, crazy things you say.'

James pulled a face. 'It's my sub-conscious mind. I can't help it if it's crazy.'

'Well, maybe it's a good thing,' Lily said, heading for the portrait hole. 

'Why's that?' 

'If you're conscious mind was as crazy as your sub-conscious mind, we'd all be in a lot of trouble, wouldn't we?' 

'I guess we would.' 

The first week of school was very anti-climax, and by the end of it, Sirius was extremely fed up. 

'This is pathetic!' He exclaimed, pacing in front of his fellow Gryffindors, who were studying, playing chess, and (in Lily's case) trying to find out if James was ticklish or not. So far it was not, but she hadn't been able to reach his stomach yet, as he kept tickling her whenever she got close enough. 

'What is?' Jo asked, looking up from her astronomy homework. 'And is that where Pluto's supposed to go?' 

'What?' Sirius said distractedly. Jo held up her diagram. 'Yeah- see?' 

__

'What?' Lily said, giving up. 'I don't see anything.' 

Sirius threw up his hands. 'We have not pulled _one_ prank this year! One! Our reputation is going down the drain!' 

'Sirius?'

'Mmm?'

'You do realise it's only the first week back?' Lily was grinning. 

Holly snickered. 

'Of course I realise that. But we've only got one year left, we have to make sure they remember us!' 

'Don't worry. I'm sure Filch will hold a party just for you…After you leave.' 

'And how could dear Professor Binns ever forget the time we- er- _damaged_ his glasses?'

Lily snorted. 'I'm not sure he noticed. He only realised he could read the paper any more.'

Sirius was getting bored with this conversation. 'Prongs?' James looked up. 'Will you join me in doing something highly illegal that will probably result in weeks of detentions?'

James shrugged. 'Sure.' As if detention was an ordinary event, which, Lily supposed, it was. 

'You're Head Boy!' She scolded him. 'You're supposed to set an example!' 

Sirius snorted. 'You can talk. Who was it that blew up a certain Slytherins cauldron on the first day back?' 

'He deserved it,' Lily shot back at him. 

'James? Shall we go and cause havoc? I was thinking we could maybe paint Mrs Norris.'

'Yeah!' James said happily, getting a bit more excited. 'With that sparkle stuff. She'd look like a Christmas cat!' Both boys found this hysterical, and had to sit down before they fell.

Lily shook her head in mock disgust.

'You coming?' James asked her once he'd calmed down a bit. 

'Of course I am. Someone has to make sure you don't kill the cat in the process.' 

'Why? Would anyone miss her? They'd probably _thank_ us.' 

'Don't get any ideas into your little head.'

The three of them dawdled out, teasing each other harmlessly, occasionally shooting sparks at whoever the offender was. 

'Little head? _Me_?' 

As they didn't have the invisibility cloak, they had to keep in the shadows, which wasn't all that difficult. Although it was hard to fit two boys and a girl into one shadow, especially if it was a small one. 

A few minutes away from the common room, they heard footsteps approaching rapidly, and Lily and James leapt up against a wall. Sirius stayed put. 

'What are you doing?' James hissed, trying to tug his best friend away from view. 

'Well, we're here to get detentions, so we might as well get detentions and have it over with.'

'We're supposed to pull _pranks_,' James whispered angrily, still holding onto Sirius's sleeve. 'Not stand in the corridor _waiting_ to get caught. That's what happens to _first_ years. That is just _degrading_.' 

'Okay, okay.' 

They watched Professor McGonagall hurry past, sharp eyes only just missing the three figures hidden behind a suit of armour. 

'So.' Lily said after she'd gone. 'What do we do now?' 

'Cause mischief!' Sirius said evilly, rubbing his hands together with glee. 

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Doing what, genius?' 

'We have to find Mrs Norris. Where d'you think she is?' 

'Probably somewhere in the castle.' 

'Great help you are. Peter would be more useful than you.'

'Oh really?' 

'No. I was kidding.'

'Good.' 

James looked thoughtful, and he whispered something to Sirius, with Lily trying to listen in on the side. 

'Yeah!' Sirius's eyes lit up. 'I'll just go get it.' 

He raced away silently, taking the stairs three at a time. 

When he reappeared a few moments later, Lily had fallen asleep against the wall, and was mumbling to herself. James grinned. 'And she says _I_ talk in my sleep.' 

Sirius handed James a piece of parchment, which he inspected closely. 

'She's in the trophy room!' 

'Ah, good. Do you have the paint?'

'Yup.'

Sirius looked down at Lily. 'Should we leave her here?' 

'We could. But that would be just too mean.' James shook her shoulder gently. 'Lily!' He whispered in her ear. 'Time to get up!' 

'No! Don't! Please, please…' she woke up looking pale. 

'Are you okay?' James looked concerned, and he helped her up. She leaned against the wall.

'Lil?' Even Sirius looked worried, but he tried to make a joke out of it. 'I know James is scary, but that's going a bit far…'

Lily just looked at the ground and said nothing for a moment. 'Are we going to get Mrs Norris?' 

The boys exchanged a glance. 'Course we are…' James checked the piece of parchment. 'In fact…she's heading this way right now!' 

Lily stared at him. 'How the hell would you know that? You've always been terrible at Divination.' She leaned over to look at the parchment. 'Wow. How did you- when-' 

'Lily, Lily, Lily.' Sirius said, shaking his head. 'We do have brains, you know.' 

'Not that you'd notice,' she muttered. 'Look. You signed it with your names! If a teacher picks it up-' 

'You underestimate us, deary.' Lily glared at Sirius, but he ignored her. 'Look.' He picked up his wand. 

'Mischief managed!' He said quietly, and the parchment became blank. 

'How do you get it to come up again?' Lily asked curiously. This was one of the boys' better inventions. 

'You try it,' James said with a grin. 

'Revealio!' she said, tapping the parchment lightly with her wand. 

Nothing happened for a moment, and the disappointment on James and Sirius's faces was evident. A few moments later, they had turned to delight, and Lily was furious. 

When she had finally given up (and the parchment had run out of insults) she turned to James. 

'Can't you just do it?' 

'Course I can.' He stepped forward. 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.' 

'Yes, I know that- wow. That's cool.' 

'We know.' Sirius looked extremely pleased with himself. 

'So it shows everyone?'

'Yup. Absolutely everyone.' 

'Let me see.' Lily held the map up close to her face. 'Hey- but- there are passages I've never seen before- there isn't one near here- is there?' 

'There is. We know it well. And Mrs Norris is approaching. Quick!' James pushed Lily and Sirius into an empty classroom. 

'Okay,' Sirius whispered. 'We need to sort of leap up behind her. Lily- you can hold her down. James, you and me will tip the stuff all over her. Got it?'

'Can't _I_ do some of the tipping?' Lily said, looking at her hands. 'Who knows where that grimy old cat's been?' 

James shuddered. "I don't think I want to know.' 

Sirius looked at the map. 'One, two, three- NOW!' 

All three of them jumped out the door (and got a bit stuck) but when they'd sorted themselves out, Lily grabbed Mrs Norris gingerly by her stomach, and James and Sirius gleefully tipped the paint over her, watching it trickle and sparkle in the moonlight. 

They heard a loud shout.

'RUN!' Sirius yelled. James dropped the paint, Lily dropped the cat, and they raced along the corridor, taking short cuts at every possible place. That could have been how they somehow ended up- _somewhere_. 

Lily clutched her side, breathing deeply. 'Where are we exactly?'

Sirius felt in his pocket. 'Uh oh.'

'What?' James and Lily said in unison. 

'I…Don't suppose you have the map?' 

'YOU LOST THE MAP?'

Sirius squeaked and backed up against the wall. 'Maybe.' 

James sat down on the floor, sighing. 

'Maybe we could wait 'til it gets light and then find our way back to the common room. Then we can sleep.'

'It's Monday.' Lily pointed out. 

'As I said, we could get some sleep.'

Lily rolled her eyes and slid down the wall, settling next to James. 

'And now.' She said grinning. 'It's your turn to be a pillow.' She lay against her shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at James. 'Is there something I've missed?'

'No. Nothing at all.'

The first rays of sunlight that fell upon the room revealed several boxes. All of them large, unopened, and -in very big writing- PRIVATE. Do not open. And on the other side, _fragile_.

'Oooh.' Sirius said, rubbing his eyes, trying to get them accustomed to the light. 

'Sirius,' Lily warned, sounding as dangerous as one possibly can at six in the morning. 

'What?' He said, sounding innocent. 

'You aren't thinking about opening them, are you by any chance?'

'Moi? _No_.' He stepped over to the boxes. 

Lily groaned. 'There could be something dangerous in there. You could get killed. Not that I care or anything.' Sirius raised his eyebrows at her, pretending to look hurt. 'Well, maybe I would care a bit. And James and Jo would be devastated.' 

'Yeah, and you'd have to comfort James,' Sirius said with a wicked glint in his eyes. 

'Oh, just open the darn boxes.'

'I thought you said there might be something _dangerous_ in them.'

'I have decided that if you get eaten, I won't care.' 

'Fine.' Sirius pried open a lid, and then stared at its contents. 

'Wow.' James said, stepping over. 

Lily's eyes widened. 'Sirius?' She said weakly. 'I don't think we were supposed to find this.'

'Me neither.' He whispered, sounding most unlike the Sirius they knew. 

Oooh. I hate it when people do this. But the next part should be up soon. 

What do you think is in the box? I'm curious to know. I actually don't know myself. The box just came into the story. 

There isn't much Remus yet. He's hiding. But he has a big part in the next bit -goody. 

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Except the big boxes, Jo and Holly, and the evil Hufflepuffs that are out to get James. I don't think that Hufflepuffs really are evil…they just came out that way. It's sad, the way I have no control whatsoever over my characters. 

I love reviews. Please tell me if I've stuffed up. (Again) And ways I could improve it and things. Lots of you want more romance. I will try, okay? TRY. But, as I have already said before, I'm not very good at it. But I will _try_. 

Starlight-who-has-a-very-sore-back-and-needs-to-eat-breakfast-because-she-is-hungry


	9. Boxes, bodies and little red riding hood...

Nothing is mine. Except Holly and Jo, the evil Hufflepuffs, what they say and Lily's last name. You can have that if you want. 

I never thought people would like it so much…*grins, dances around the room and pats her computer lovingly.* 

This bit's a bit different, I put PG because little kids might not like some of it. I like this part. So I really hope you do as well. I've spent all day on this, and I've got a cramp in my back…owee. 

You wanted more romance? *sighs.* I'm bad at romance! Do you hear me? BAD! But I wrote it anyway…please don't laugh at me. 

****

The Flower and the Stag

Part 7c

Sirius dropped his wand, and stared at the box. Lily sat down on the ground, her head in her lap, and James sat next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder. 

'This is not good.' Sirius muttered. 

'True.'

'So what're we gonna do?'

'Dunno.'

The three of them lay on the ground, each trying to work out what to do.

'How about we talk to Remus?' Lily suggested.

'Why Remus? I mean, he's kind of sick at the moment.'

'Then when he gets better,' Lily insisted. 'He knows heaps about this sort of stuff.'

'Like what? Finding dead bodies in a crate? I _don't_ think so, somehow.' 

'Can't we just talk to him about it?' 

'Alright, alright.'

They crept out the room (after sealing the crate shut again) and hurried up to the common room -although only after going up several wrong staircases. 

Lily fell into a chair, but -to her great disappointment- she couldn't get to sleep. For one thing, she kept thinking of the bodies in the box, and their eyes. For another, James was right next to her, which made it very difficult to snooze -maybe because his arm was under her back, or maybe because she had to restrain herself from leaning over and kissing him in front of everyone in the common room. 

She sighed, and after at least half an hour of lying awake, she fell asleep.

Remus entered the common room that evening, looking for James and Sirius. Peter said they hadn't been in class all day, and he couldn't find them anywhere. But what he saw in the armchair by the fire made up for everything he had been through in the past day. He grinned, raced upstairs to their dorm, grabbed a camera, ran back downstairs, and took a photo. 

It was quite funny. Lily was curled up close to James, sucking on her thumb, Sirius was wedged in between James and the armrest, and James just looked squashed. But they all looked so tired, he couldn't find the heart to wake them up. He watched them with a smile on his face.

Lily stirred, and opened her eyes slowly. 'Remus?' She said sleepily, trying to get up. She found that she was stuck, and decided to stay put before any of her hair got ripped out. 

'What've you three been up to? I never knew three seventh years could fit in the same armchair.'

Lily looked confused, then saw James and Sirius beside her. 'Oh. Sirius wasn't there before.'

'So it was just you and James, eh?' 

Lily glared at him. 'You're just as bad as Sirius sometimes, you know that?'

'I do my best.'

'Er- Remus?' 

He sat down in the armchair opposite his friends. 'Yeah?'

'Um, there was this box in this room and there were these bodies in it-'

'Bodies?'

'Well, yeah.'

'You found bodies in a box in a room?'

'Yes.'

'Maybe we should wake the other two up?'

'Yes.'

She nudged James with her elbow, and he groaned. 'What time is it?' He mumbled, blinking through his glasses. 

She shrugged. 'Could you please get off my hair?' 

'I'm not on it.' He started to get up, and Lily shrieked. 

'Ow! Ow ow ow, James it's stuck! Ouch!' 

She stood up after him, her head on an angle, trying to stop her hair being pulled. 

James stepped on Sirius's toe, and he woke with a start, eyes puffy. It took him a moment to work out what was going on, but when he figured it out, he grinned. 'Lily?'

__

'What? Ouch!'

'You don't have to follow James everywhere, you know.'

'If I could slap you without getting my hair ripped out, I would.'

'But, sadly, you can't.'

Remus sighed. This could go on forever. He whistled loudly, causing the entire common room to go silent. 

'You can go back to whatever you were doing,' he reassured the other Gryffindors. They looked at him strangely, but then went back to their homework and whatever else they were doing. 

'Now.' He addressed his friends, two of whom were in a very uncomfortable predicament. 

Remus stepped over to Lily and James, undid the loop of hair that was stuck on a button on James's shirt, and then looked at them. Lily was rubbing her head. 

'Lily said you found some bodies.'

'Shhhh!' Sirius hissed. 'Come up to our dorm.'

'What about me?' Lily asked, hands across her chest.

'You can come.'

She raised her eyebrows. 

'Oh, Lily, who cares about the rules?' James said impatiently. 'Just come.'

'Fine.' She followed the others up the boy's staircase, trying to ignore the looks other Gryffindors were giving her. 

Sirius closed the door behind them. 'Okay. Moony, we were out last night, trying to find ways to get a detention-' Remus rolled his eyes '-and we lost the map-'

__

'What?'

'-And we ended up in a room that we thought was empty. After Lily had fallen asleep on James-'

'Hey!'

'Well you did. Anyway, after that, the sun came up, and we saw these huge crates just sitting there.'

'Just sitting there? No writing on them?'

'Well…There might have been some.'

'Like what?'

'Private?' He hurried on. 'And so we opened them -only because Lily said we couldn't-'

'Thanks, Sirius. Just blame it on me.'

'I will. And there were about three people in there.'

'How do you know they were dead?' 

'They weren't screaming? Breathing? They showed no signs whatsoever that they were alive?' 

'They were dead.' Lily said bluntly, interrupting Sirius's speech. 'You could see their eyes.' She turned white, remembering this. 

'Um, I'm just curious, but why are you telling me all this?'

'Because you're our friend-'

'And we thought you might be able to help.'

'Oh. It's just I don't know much about finding dead bodies.'

'Maybe we should tell Dumbledore,' Lily said, flopping down on the bed closest to her. 

'And say what? Excuse me, professor, but we found some dead bodies in a room at about midnight last night, after we'd tipped shimmery paint over the castle cat?' Sirius stared at Lily. 'I _don't_ think so.' 

'Then what are going to do, huh? Just leave them there?' She stood up, her hands on her hips. 'But then they might kill more people! We HAVE to tell _someone_!' 

'Calm down, Lil'.' Sirius said looked tired. 'We don't _have_ to tell someone. We can figure it out for ourselves! It'll give us something to do.'

'Oh, goody.' Lily muttered. 'Researching dead bodies. How fun.' She looked up. 'What about the NEWTs? We have to study for them.'

'Who cares about studying?' He answered airily. 

'Me?'

'You don't count.' 

'Shut up you two. We aren't going to get anywhere. I agree with Sirius-'

'You would.'

'Because-' he looked at Lily 'I don't think we should tell anyone before we know what's happening.'

'What do _you_ think _is_ happening?'

James sighed. _'I_ think that someone on the dark side is shipping bodies into Hogwarts for spells.'

__

'Why?' 

'You can use human blood in some spells.'

Lily shuddered. 'What kind of sick person would want to do that?'

'What kind of sick person would want to twist someone up into a ball?' James said quietly. 'These people _are_ sick. They're evil. And my guess is, they're getting someone in the castle to brew illegal potions that involve humans.' 

Lily fell backwards onto the bed, and stared at the canopy above her. 'I wish we'd never found that box.'

James flopped down next to her. 'Me too.'

Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance. 'How cute. James?'

'What?'

'I think your girlfriend's fallen asleep.'

'She is _not_- what?' 

'She's asleep.' Remus grinned, and waved goodnight. Sirius followed suite. 

James glanced down at sleeping figure next to him and sighed. 'Lily?' He shook her shoulder. 'Lily?' 

She mumbled something and turned over onto her side. 

James couldn't help smiling. Then he picked her up and carried her down the stairs in his arms, her long hair hanging limply over the side. 

He was just opening the door to the girl's dorm (which was very difficult with a seventeen-year-old girl in his arms) when Lily's eyes opened, and she looked at him blearily. 

'James?' 

'Shhh. I think the others are asleep.'

Lily looked down. 'Why are you carrying me?'

'I didn't think Peter would appreciate finding you asleep in his bed.'

'Oh. Sorry.'

'S'okay.'

He placed her down in her bed, and she looked up at him, her green eyes staring hard at him. 'Thanks.'

James shrugged. 'You're not that heavy.'

Lily laughed and threw her pillow at him, then grew quiet. James thought she was about to say something, but she leaned over and kissed him, her arms around his neck. 

They were interrupted by a whistle and a groan. 

'Ha!' It was Jo. 'You owe me a galleon!' 

James grinned and pulled away. 'Bye.' He left quickly, leaving a very pink Lily. 

'So, Lily.' Jo said, coming over with a grin on her face. 'You don't like him, eh? Could've fooled me.'

Lily shrugged, and muttered something under her breath. 'Why does someone owe you a galleon?' She asked, looking around.

Holly parted the hangings around her bed and padded over in fluffy rabbit slippers. 'We had a bet. I thought he'd kiss you first, and Jo thought you'd kiss him.'

Lily stared at them. 'I can't believe you're my friends.'

'Oh, don't worry. You've still got James.'

Lily laughed. 'And you've got Sirius.'

Jo snorted. 'We're just friends.' She looked dreamy for a moment. 'Thought _I_ wouldn't mind if we weren't.'

Holly giggled. 'Come on. We better get to sleep.' Jo nodded and waved goodnight to everyone. 

'Hey, Lily?' Holly added. 

'Yeah?' Lily was crawling under her overs, and she glanced up at Holly, yawning. 

'What would you do if you thought someone wanted to kill someone you knew?'

__

'What? Someone's trying to kill someone?' Lily sat up in bed. 

'No, no.' Holly said hurriedly. 'I'm just…reading this book. I was just wondering what you thought.'

'Oh. I don't really know. Tell someone else? Try and help them? Sorry, I'm not sure.'

Holly forced a grin. 'That's okay. See you in the morning?'

'Yup. That is, if I wake up. I might sleep all day.'

'Like today, you mean?'

Lily groaned. 'That was not a sleep. You have no idea how uncomfortable I was. I had James' elbow sticking into my back for over six hours.'

Holly laughed, and snuggled down into her own bed, closing the drapes behind her. 

__

God,

Please don't let anything happen to Lily. I know they're coming. I can feel it. Please, God.

She fell asleep. 

The next day, Sirius was extremely pre-occupied -more so than usual- and he even stuffed up in Transfiguration, which was usually his best subject. 

James, Sirius and Remus walked out of the classroom together, planning to go down near the Forbidden forest, where no one else would be. 

'Did you see that 'cat'?' James said, laughing. 'It looked like- like-'

'A mouse gone wrong?' Remus suggested.

'Ha ha.' Sirius grumbled. 'I was thinking.'

'Something new for you.' James said cheerfully. 

Sirius mumbled something. 'Anyway. It _was_ a mouse gone wrong, when you think about.'

Remus started to laugh. 'I don't think I want to think about it. It was quite- scary, I think the word is.' 

The two of them giggled for a bit longer, while Sirius watched them, not looking at all amused. 'When you two are _quite_ finished.' He said. 'We can go outside.'

'We're coming, we're coming.' 

They walked over to a fallen down log that wasn't in view of the castle, and sat talking about brooms for a moment, just in case anyone had decided to eavesdrop. 

There was a crunching sound from behind a bush. James stood up silently, and crept around it, careful not to make a sound. 

Sirius and Remus watched him go, but they weren't expecting to hear James say 'Lily?'

'James?'

'What're you doing here?'

'Following you.'

'Oh. Hey, Sirius?' He called.

'Yeah?'

'Can Lily come?'

'Yeah.'

Lily came in first, looking cross. 'Why didn't you tell me?'

'You didn't seem very interested in the whole dead body thing,' Sirius said.

'I still want to know what's happening. But if you want me to go, I can. At least then I can explain to Jo and Holly that I'm not out here making out with James.'

James coughed, and Sirius raised his eyebrows. 'You can do that if you want.'

'Very funny.' She sat down on the log, and looked at the piece of parchment Remus was scribbling on. 

'So…You think this has something to do with Voldemort?'

'Yes.' All three of them answered at the same time.

'Okay…But, I'm just wondering, why doesn't Dumbledore know?'

'Duh, Lily.'

'Sirius, can't you just answer a question properly?'

'Sure I can. What I meant was, why would they tell Dumbledore they were doing something illegal?'

'That's a lot of things to put into _duh_.'

Sirius shrugged. 

'What _I_ meant was, doesn't Dumbledore know about everything that goes on in this castle?'

'He can't.' James said simply.

'Why not?'

'Gee, you're slow today, Lily.'

'Thanks.' She said dryly. 

'He can't know about _everything_. Unless he _let_ us become animagi. Which I seriously doubt.'

'Oh yeah.' 

'So what're we going to do?' Remus asked. 

James looked thoughtful. 'Okay. Come here.' The other three leaned in, and James whispered his plan. 

Lily looked thoughtful. 'That might work.'

'That was why I suggested it.'

She nodded. 'You've got more brains in there than I thought,' she said, tapping his head with her knuckles. Then she left.

'Hey, Lily?' Remus called.

'What?' She yelled back. 'I need to do my charms homework.'

'Meet us here, tomorrow, three o'clock, kay?'

'Yeah.' She nodded, waved, and then started running back to the castle.

James looked at Sirius. 'How can she do that?'

'Do what? Like you? I honestly don't know. But you have to admit, you do make a nice couple.'

__

'No. Work that hard in Charms? Anyone would think she _likes_ it.'

Sirius patted his back. 'James. I think she does.'

He shuddered. 'I s'pose we all have our problems.'

The next day, at three o'clock, Lily, James, Remus and Sirius were sitting on the log, eating jam-tarts when they were supposed to be at Divination. Lily licked her lips, then looked around at her companions. 

'What do we do now?'

'There isn't really much we _can_ do _now_. We just wanted to get out of Divination.' James looked quite pleased with himself. 'But we were thinking we could go to that room tonight. To see if we can find any messages.'

Lily looked slightly sick. 'Do we have to look in the box?'

'You can keep watch,' James reassured her. 

'Getting soft in your old age, are you James?' Sirius said grinning.

James ignored him. 

'How are we going to find our way there?' Lily wondered out loud. _'Someone_- not mentioning names- lost the map.'

All heads turned towards Sirius, who at least looked a bit ashamed. 'I didn't _mean_ to. I didn't try, or anything. Don't be so mean.'

'Aw. I'm sorry Sirius. But how are we going to find that room? Wander around the castle?'

'That was the idea. Start at around eleven o'clock and we'll have all night.'

'Can we do it on a Friday?' Lily asked, looking pained. 'I can't miss any more Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall's ready to kill me.'

'Spoilsport.' Sirius muttered. 'Yeah, okay. Then we can sleep all Saturday. That okay with everyone?' 

'Yup,' James agreed, eyeing the last tart. 'Does anyone want that?'

Lily scrunched up her nose, deciding. 'Nah. See you all later? I want to hear if Jo set anything alight in Divination.' She bounced off. 

The boys watched her go. 'Trelawney really should get rid of those candles. Soon she won't have a tower to live in, if Jo keeps knocking candles over.' 

Remus nodded, but James didn't seem to be thinking about that.

'She's really cute when she does that thing with her nose,' he said, biting into his tart.

Sirius burst out laughing. 'You've got it bad, Prongs.'

'What've I got?' James said through a mouthful of jam.

'Nothing,' Sirius said loftily, still fighting to keep a straight face. 'Nothing at all.' 

That Friday night, James, Sirius and Remus crawled out of bed, trying to be as quiet as possible, so as not to wake Peter up. 

Remus tripped over a bedpost though, and swore loudly, waking up the snoring Peter, who threw back the hangings and stared at them all. 

'Where are you going?' 

'Don't worry, Peter,' Sirius said, teeth shining in the moonlight. 'James is just going for a midnight stroll with Lily. We're supervising them to make sure they don't get up to anything.'

James rolled his eyes to the ceiling. 

'You are not!' Peter said indignantly, stepping out of bed in his pyjamas. 'James doesn't even _like_ Lily.'

Sirius snorted. 'Where've you been the last week? You obviously haven't heard about James carrying Lily to bed, and then snogging her for five minutes straight.'

'That is a _slight_ exaggeration.' James muttered. 'Anyway, how'd you know?'

'Jo wasn't going to keep it a secret, Prongs. It was valuable information.'

James put his head in his hands. 

'Don't worry,' Remus said kindly. 'The Hufflepuffs don't know. Yet,' he added as an after thought.

Peter glared at them all, his tiny eyes watery. _'I_ want to come.'

'No way. Besides, Lily's coming. You hate Lily.'

'I don't _hate_ her. _She_ hates _me_.'

'She does not hate you,' James said, sighing. 'Sirius, just let him come. He can't do anything wrong.'

'Except give us away and get us suspended.' Sirius said under his breath. 

'Besides that.' 

They crept down the stairs, Peter making them all frustrated because he remembered he was in his pyjamas and wanted to change- they didn't let him- and by the time they reached Lily at the bottom of the staircase, Peter was almost in tears, and Lily was very bored.

'What took you so long?' She hissed, blowing on her hands, trying to keep them warm. She stuffed them in the pockets of her black cloak, and followed the others out the portrait. 

__

'Someone,' Sirius said, glaring at Peter, 'woke up.'

Lily noticed him for the first time. 'Oh, you're here, are you?' 

'Yes.' He said grumpily.

She shrugged. 

'Did you and James kiss?' He asked, knowing Lily hated talking about this.

'None of your business.' She answered, hugging herself.

'Are you okay?' Remus asked. 'You look frozen?'

'Yeah, I -I' she sneezed loudly, then sniffed, rubbing her nose on her sleeve. 'I think I've got a cold.'

'Want a tissue?' Sirius asked, conjuring one up out of thin air with his wand. Lily nodded and thanked him, blowing her nose. 

Peter watched them all with anger welling up inside him. Would they do that for him? _Probably not_, he thought crossly, biting his stubby nails. _They'd just tell me to shut up._

About an hour later, James peeked inside a room. 'This is it,' he announced.

'What are we looking for?' Peter asked, sniffing. 

'You'll find out.' Sirius said, a wicked glint in his eyes. 

'I'll keep watch,' Lily said hurriedly, and she walked quickly over to the door and out the room, not looking back. 

'Is she _scared_?' Peter said, feeling pleased. _He_ wasn't scared. 

James opened the largest crate with his wand, then stepped back, looking at Peter angrily. 'You look in there, and tell me if you like what you see.'

Peter stepped forward, looking into the crate. Three…bodies…he felt sick. And not because of the sight that lay before him. What had master said? _I'm sending some -er- presents._ _I want your friends to find them. Maybe we'll get them early. Not the boy though. The girl,' _he had said, rubbing his hands together. _'I want the girl.'_

Peter stepped back, and looked at James defiantly. 'It's not that scary. She's just a wimp.'

James didn't say anything, but Lily, who had been listening, peeked inside the doorframe, looking furious. 'Get lost, Pettigrew. Unless you want me to throw up all over your miniature head.' 

Sirius clapped. 'Go Lily!' 

Peter sat down on another box, then got up hurriedly, remembering what was probably in it. 

'I have to go,' he said abruptly, feeling the dark mark master had burnt into him throb once more.

'Whose the wimp now?' Lily said when he left.

'I have more important things to do,' Peter said airily.

'Like what?' Lily scoffed. 'Running to the nurse?'

He stepped up to her, until he was so close he had to look up at her. 'You should watch it, Cooper.' Then he scurried off, out to the broom shed, where he straddled his broom and flew away. Rather wobbly as first. 

Lily watched him go, suspicion evident in her eyes. James walked out, looking very pale and unlike James. 'What'd he say?' he asked. 

Lily shook her head. 'Nothing. It doesn't matter.' She looked at him closely. 'You're all white. Stay out here for a minute with me? Please?'

He nodded, and they leaned against the stone walls silently, shoulders touching. 'This is freaking me out,' Lily whispered, almost hoping he wouldn't hear her. 

'Me too.' He patted her hand. 'Me too.' 

A little while later, the other two emerged, looking tired but triumphant, and very pleased with themselves. 'We've found a letter!'

Lily looked up, interested. 'What's it say?'

Sirius handed it to her, then wiped his hands on his robes, pulling a face.

__

To B

Here are the materials you sent for

Be at the grounds, Thursday night. I want payment for my troubles.

A

'Yuck.' Lily muttered. 'Ew ew ew.' 

'All true,' Sirius said cheerfully. 

'Why're you so happy?' Lily asked, looking confused.

'Lily,' Remus said patiently. 'We'll be able to get them! They'll be there!'

'So you _are_ going to tell Dumbledore, aren't you?' Lily asked.

'Well…' The three boys exchanged glances.

'You have to!' Lily said loudly. She covered her mouth with her hands. 'Sorry.' She whispered. 'But you do have to tell him. You can't deal with Voldemort yourselves!'

'Who says?' Sirius said stoutly, looking cross.

'God, Sirius, you're _such an idiot_! I don't want you all to get killed!' 

'You don't?'

Lily sighed, exasperated. 'Course I don't. That's why I'll come with you.'

James looked at her. 'You sure?' 

'Yes.' 

'Positive?'

__

'Yes. Stop worrying.'

'See, Lily, that's what happens when you let someone carry you to bed,' Sirius teased, grinning. 'They become overly over-protective of you- ow!' 

Lily laughed.

__

Peter knocked on the door to Masters house. 

'Password?' The eerie voice said, and Peter tried to stop himself trembling.

'Mudbloods,' he squeaked. 

The door swung open. It had been oiled since last time, he noticed with satisfaction. The creaky door spooked him out. 

'Ah, Pettigrew,' Master drawled, 'I trust the delinquents have found my note?'

'Eh?'

'Your 'friends,' Master said impatiently, twirling his wand in his fingertips. 

'Oh! Oh, yes. They have.'

'And the girl?' 

'Yeah. But she wouldn't look at the bodies. They made her feel sick. And the others, too. James was all pale.' Peter said this with some sort of pride.

'But the girl,' Master pressed. 'She will be there?' 

'Yes. She follows James everywhere now.' 

'Oh?'

'Well, not everywhere. Not to detention.' Peter was babbling, as he always did in Masters presence. 

'Why is that, boy?'

'They like each other,' he said with disgust, wrinkling his nose at the mere thought of it. 

'What?' Master hissed, sounding furious.

'They like each other,' Peter repeated, backing away. 

'How do you mean?' Master was tapping his wand against his other hand, shooting out red sparks from one end.

'Er- someone saw them kissing, I think. And now James always sticks up for Lily…Instead of arguing with her.'

Master sat silently for a moment, deep in thought. 'I knew this would happen,' he murmured. 'It was too strong…' 

'Master?' Peter whispered. 'What was too-?'

'Do not worry, my boy. We shall get lovely little Miss Cooper before any harm comes of this 'romance'. An evil smile spread across his face. 'You need not worry about her_ any more.'_

Peter bowed and turned to leave. 'Pettigrew!' Master snapped.

Peter spun around.

'Ye-yes, Master?' He stammered. 

'Pretend you are sick next Thursday…We do not want anyone getting suspicious, do we?' 

'N-no, master. Of course not.' He bowed again, and backed out of the room. 

The next Thursday, during a Charms lesson, they sat up in a tree, trying to work out what to do. Lily was very put out about missing Charms, and wasn't feeling very useful. Sirius kept swinging from branch to branch, Remus was studying (his books kept falling down to the ground) and James was trying to get everyone to pay attention. 

'Where's Worm-boy?' Lily asked, after being knocked off a branch by Sirius. She swung herself upright. 

'He's sick,' James answered, then grabbed a quill that was about to topple off and fall down. 

'Stupid little rat,' Lily muttered, chewing her nails in boredom.

__

'Lily.' James admonished her.

'Come on James, you _know_ he is!'

'You don't have to be so mean to him though.' James answered.

Lily shrugged and started to climb down.

'Hey!' Sirius called. 'Where're you going?' 

'Inside. Before I strangle James.'

Sirius turned to James. 'Aren't you going to go after her?' 

'No,' he muttered.

Sirius gaped at him. 'You're so dumb, Prongs!' He cried in exasperation. 

'And why is that?'

Remus looked up, interested.

'If you two didn't have so much pride you wouldn't get mad at each other! You need to get over it!' 

James snorted.

'He's right,' Remus said quietly. 'She _does_ love you. But you can't just let each other go like that.'

'I didn't _let_ her go,' James said. 'She just -went.'

'Oh, you make me so mad, sometimes' Sirius said, and he if had been on the ground he would have stamped his feet.

'You sound like Lily,' James said with a tiny grin on his face.

'Look.' Sirius said, hanging upside down and looking at James directly in the face. 'You - love - Lily.'

'No - I -don't. I like her. Not love.'

Sirius sighed. 'Fine. But can't you at least tell her that?'

'Why? And since when were you so in touch with feelings?'

'This is just _obvious_. And because you're my best friend, and I don't want to see you and Lily break up.'

'We were never officially together.'

'You haven't been together for the last year and a half, but has anyone- besides those Hufflepuffs- asked you out? Hit on you? Everyone was too scared either you or Lily would attack them.'

James looked at him. 'I'll talk to her later, alright? After we've done this.'

'Fine, fine…_just_ talk?' 

__

'Sirius.'

Remus laughed, and his books fell down -again. But before he had a chance to bring them back up, they heard a loud crunch from somewhere in the forest.

Lily walked through the halls, her blood boiling. She almost didn't see Holly before she ran right into her. 

'Ow! Oh, sorry, Holly…What's wrong?' 

'Lily!' She gasped. She'd been running too, apparently. 'You- have- to- warn- James! He'll die!'

__

'What?'

'James! That- note!' Holly stopped for a moment to catch her breath. 'That note they found. It's a trap. They're trying to kill you. But you're not there, so they'll get James!' Holly looked at her pleadingly.

'How- how do you know all this?' 

'I don't get top grades in Divination for nothing,' she answered. 'And-' Holly looked a bit guilty. 'I found a glass ball of James's…it shows the future…it showed you…dead.' Holly whispered the last word. 

Lily stood still for a moment, and then she turned and ran, calling over her shoulder 'I'm going to Dumbledore! Get help! Get someone! _Anyone!'_

Lily sprinted to the Gargoyle at the front of the passage up to Dumbledore's office. 

'Open up, you ugly horrible thing!' She started banging on its mouth. 'Let me _in_!' 

She was just running through a whole line of swear words when the Gargoyle stepped to the side and the Headmaster walked out, looking very worried. 

__

'Why you little- Professor! James! He's-' 

'I know, Miss Cooper. Stay inside the castle, please.' He stopped to think about this for a moment. 'Better yet, stay in my office.' He nudged her inside. 

'Hey! What- _why_?'

The gargoyle closed again, only this time with her on the inside. 

She heard Professor Dumbledore lock it magically. 

'WHAT? Hey! Help!' 

After several minutes of yelling, she became hoarse, and dashed up the stairs to a window. There were so many people down there…Hogwarts students in their black robes, and other people…older people…coming towards the castle…Then Dumbledore came, and the tallest of the other people walked up to him. They disappeared, along with their followers so suddenly, it took a moment for Lily to realise what was happening. Dumbledore didn't move. He yelled out a spell, and then, when that was done, he hurried forward. 

Lily stared out the window, her nose pressed up against the glass. 

Then she did the first thought that entered her mind. She smashed the glass, grabbed a broom from a shelf nearby, and leapt out the window. Since she still had _some_ sense in her brain, she didn't land near the mess, but several metres away. Then she pushed to the front, surveying the scene before her. 

Bright orange ribbon or tape -Lily couldn't tell- was suspended in mid-air, and hit-wizards were appearing everywhere. They kept going invisible to catch people trying to get under the barriers.

Lily hurried over a to an empty looking section and started to scurry under it. Before she could get very far, someone invisible grabbed her. 

'Oi!' They yelled. 

'Oof!' 

They pushed her back to where the crowds were standing and pulled their invisibility cloak off, still holding onto her arm. Lily took a good look at him, and realised he was only a few years older than her, she recognised him as a Ravenclaw -but he obviously didn't remember her. 

'Wha' d'yeh think yeh doin?' He asked crossly, glaring at her. 

'Trying to get through,' Lily said, stating the obvious. 

He snorted. 'Yer not allowed there, yeh hear meh?' 

'Yes.' However, she continued trying to push past him.

'Look 'ere, Missy! It's a disaster in there, righ'?' 

__

'I don't care!' She yelled. 'James is in there-'

'I don' care if it's yeh boyfrien' or yeh Pa in there, _yer not going in!' _

Lily stopped, and narrowed her eyes. 'He is _not_ my boyfriend.' 

'Righ''

'Got that?'

'Got it.'

'Good. NOW LET ME PAST!'

'I'll 'ave to arrest yeh if yeh don' move it soon!' He yelled back, furious with this girl. He remembered her now. She was a Gryffindor Prefect. He saw a badge shining on her chest as the sun caught it, and raised his eyebrows. 

'Head girl, eh?' 

She glared at him. 'Go dunk your head in a lake,' she snapped. Then she froze him, ducked under the barrier, and ran towards the middle of the crowd gathered in a group, where officials from the ministry and nosy school kids that had managed to get through were running around in a frenzy, trying to find out what was going on. 

Lily spotted Sirius sitting on the ground a few metres away, and ran over to him. She threw her arms around his neck, and he winced. 'Ouch. I've hurt my arm a bit. Can you- Lily? You're okay!'

'Why wouldn't I be?'

Sirius looked a bit nervous. 'No reason…Look, I'll tell you later. I think it's James you should be hugging.'

'Is he okay? Where is he?'

Sirius grinned, and pointed. Lily spun around, and saw James standing nearby, a lop-sided grin plastered across his face. 

'JAMES!' She shrieked. She leapt over to him, flung her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist, hugging him tight. He wasn't in great condition, for several different reasons, and the force of her jump knocked him down flat on his back.

'Oof!' Before he could say anything else (not that he really wanted to with Lily on top of him) she had kissed him so hard he wondered if his lips were bruised.

Remus wandered over to where his friends were standing. Well, sitting and lying. 'Sirius?'

'Yeah?' Sirius had a huge smirk on his face, and he was watching Lily and James with great pleasure.

'I take it they've made up?'

'Something like that.' 

'What happened?' 

'Well, Lily saw James, shrieked, knocked him over, and I don't think they've come up for air in the last five minutes.'

The end…of this part, anyway. People said they wanted it long. This was almost nine pages. Long enough? Hopefully. I spent all today typing it. *sighs* it's quite sad. But I don't think the next part will be up for a few days, because I haven't written it yet and I have school and netball training. I'll try and get it done by Wednesday, kay? 

I really hoped you liked it -Dadoosh? I think they've finally gotten together. It was bugging me, but I didn't know how to do it. 

And does anybody have any ideas on what can happen during the rest of the year? I had it all planned right up to here. And now I'm running a blank, which is why I stopped. That and the whole factoid my fingers are starting to ache. 

You're all so NICE! *sniff* Thankyou SO MUCH! 

You can review again, if you want to. 


	10. Even more mush

Hello again. As you can probably see, I've changed my pen name, because someone kindly pointed out to me that I'd stolen theirs. Oopsies. So now I'm Tropical Fishy. I love Tropical Fish. Why, I don't know. It just sounds like a good thing to like. 

This part is the shortest bit so far, and I'm really sorry, but it is. I've been VERY busy, but I've been doing this all afternoon. Anything to avoid my science homework. 

****

The Flower and the Stag 

Part 8

Lily was sitting in the common room, glaring at her homework. It wouldn't make sense. As Sirius had earlier pointed out, glaring at the parchment wasn't going to help, but Lily was actually have a quite a good time staring at it. It was fun. Lily sighed. This wasn't good. 

'Lily?' Holly peered around the corner of the chair she was at.

Lily tore her eyes away from the parchment. 'Mmm?'

'I just wanted to ask you something.'

'What?' 

'Do you like the colour- hang on a minute-' she ducked back behind the armchair, then reappeared a few seconds later. 

'D'you like the colour green?'

'Yeah.'

'Blue?'

'Yeah, and I also like yellow. Why?'

Holly ignored her question. 'How 'bout purple?'

She shrugged. 'It's okay.'

Holly disappeared again, then popped back up. 

'So, just okay? If someone gave you, say, a purple rose- ow! Er- I mean…Hang on a second.'

Lily raised her eyebrows and looked over the back of the chair. James was whispering something to Holly, who was whispering back, shaking her head. 

Lily coughed, and James looked up. 

'Oh! Lily!…Hi.' He nodded. 'Yeah. Weather's nice, eh?'

'It's raining,' Lily pointed out, grinning slightly.

'It is?' 

She nodded her head, pointing to a window where the rain was pelting against it at full force. 'It's been raining all day,' she added.

'It has?…I didn't notice.'

'Obviously.'

Holly started laughing. 'Can I just leave you two alone?'

They nodded, and Holly walked away, muttering something about needing a videotape. 

'Want to go for a walk?' James asked, looking at her through his glasses seriously. Lily stared at him.

'You _are_ joking?' 

'No.'

'Oh…In that?'

'Yeah.' He grinned mischievously. 'We'll take an umbrella.'

Before Lily could argue, plead, or even freeze him so he couldn't walk, he was dragging her out the common room and along the halls. 

'James! Can't we just- just- do something else? I can't think of anything at the moment, but-'

'Shhh!' 

'What?'

He kissed her, then started pulling her along again. It took her a moment to recover. 

'If you think _that_ is going to make me change my mind-' 

He opened the door, and they were immediately sprayed with rain. 'James?'

'What?'

'Do we have an umbrella?'

'Lily, Lily, Lily.'

'Will you stop saying my name?' She asked irritably. 

'Sure. You keep forgetting that we can use magic.' He pulled a quill out of his pocket, whispered something, tapped it with his wand, and it burst into an umbrella. 

'How _do_ I forget _that_?' She mumbled. 'I'm _surrounded_ by magic. I _live_ with magic. But I forget it exists.' 

'It's just one of your charms,' James answered, not listening to himself. 

She snorted. 'Did James Potter, high king of Quidditch, just compliment _me_?' 

'Why I should, I don't know. After all, I was almost killed by a certain girl who's name starts with L when she knocked me over and then stuck her tongue down my throat.'

'I did not!'

'In my mouth.' He corrected himself, and Lily went red. 

'I thought you were dead,' she muttered, gripping the umbrella. 

'You care?'

'Actually, I usually stick my tongue into people's mouths when I don't care about them. It's something that I do.'

'This is stupid.' James said, looking at the rain. 

'What do you suggest we do?'

He demonstrated. 

A few moments later, Lily nodded. 'That's okay. We can do that.'

Lily noticed that she was getting wet. 'James, next time you kiss me, don't let go of the umbrella.'

James looked sheepish. 'Do you have a quill on you?'

Lily checked her now soaked through robes. 'Nope…Don't you?'

'Nope.' 

'Maybe we should go inside…I'm wet.'

'Me too. Off we go!' He started skipping back to the castle. 

Lily ran to catch up with him. 'What are you on?' 

He laughed. 'You.' 

It was time for the Halloween feast, and James was sitting in detention with Lily. Professor Flitwick, while quite good at charms, had no clue whatsoever as to what he should make students do in detention, as that was usually professor's McGonagall and Snape's expertise. He let _them_ punish the poor unfortunate pupils. He looked at the two of them, who were whispering something to each other. 

'Miss Cooper?' He squeaked. 

She looked up, grinning. 'Yes, Professor?'

James muttered something and she started to giggle. 

'Could you please move to the other side of the room?'

'Why?'

He looked at her blankly, wishing he was as scary as Minerva. 'You are not supposed to talk.'

'Oh. Can I stay here if I promise not to talk to James?'

He sighed, then nodded. Then he fell off his chair, and by the time he sat back up, Lily was laughing so hard there was no need to tell her to move. She'd rolled onto the floor. 

'Cooper, Potter, you may leave.' 

They didn't hear him, and rolled about on the floor, giggling breathlessly. 

James looked up a few moments later. 'Hey, Lily?' 

She hiccupped. 'What?'

'Flitwick's gone.' 

'He has? Really? Cool. Let's go.' 

She jumped up and saw the clock. 'Yikes! The feast!' James got to his feet. 'Come _on_, slowpoke!' 

They ran down to the feast, and entered just as Dumbledore was about to talk. Lily looked down and realised she was still holding James's hand. For some reason, she didn't want to let go. They sat down next to Sirius, who was smirking. Half the hall was still watching them, and those who hadn't witnessed Lily knock over James, now knew they were together. 

The Hufflepuffs were not happy. 

The feast was just as good as it had been every other year, and (in Lily's opinion) this year it was better. By the end of it, she owned a photograph of James with potato salad in his hair. 

She had the chocolate mousse in hers. 

A few weeks later in Charms, they were learning how to use a silencing charms, one of which Lily was already quite familiar with, and was thoroughly enjoying silencing Sirius, who hadn't been able to talk all lesson.

James, however, had other things on his mind. Even Sirius didn't know what it was. He did know that James had been working on something at around midnight - he'd heard him muttering to himself- but he didn't know what.

'What _are_ you doing?' Lily asked, after allowing Sirius to talk.

James covered whatever it was he was doing with his elbow, and looked up at her innocently. 'Me? Nothing.' 

She nodded, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. 'Come on, James. You can tell me.' 

'I'll tell you later.'

'You will?'

'I was planning on telling you tonight.'

'You was? I mean, you were?'

He grinned, his brown eyes sparkling. 'It's nothing really.' 

'Okay,' she skipped off and silenced a very grumpy Sirius. He mouthed furiously at her. She hastily took the charm off when he started throwing things. 

That night, Lily was sitting up in a tree with her eyes blindfolded. 'I don't really feel very safe here. No offence.'

'None taken. Just don't look down.'

'Such helpful advice,' she muttered. 'What is there to see, anyway? Besides leaves, and your ugly mug, that is.'

'Just remember you're fifty feet off the ground,' he warned her. 

'Oh yeah. I meant your _gorgeous_ mug.' 

'Why do I think I heard sarcasm?'

She shrugged, and lost her footing on the branch. James grabbed her waist, and pulled her back up, not letting go once she was. Lily ripped off the blindfold.

'I am not looking at darkness again- wow. This is nice.'

Under the tree, James had somehow gotten lots of little lights to twinkle, like on a muggle Christmas tree. 'How did you do this?' 

'That is for _me_ to know and _you_ not to find out.'

'Okay. Are we just going to sit up here watching the lights for a little while?'

'No. I have a poem for you.'

She started to laugh. 'A poem?'

James looked injured. 'You don't want to hear my poem?'

'Of course I do.' She giggled. 'Did you write it?' 

'Er- no. But I did help. Ahem.

You are the one that makes my day

And then makes it shine brighter

You make everything seem okay

You make my heart feel so much lighter'

He paused for a moment. 

'Is that all?' Lily asked, grinning. 

'Yeah. The author of this poem is a bit insane. You don't want to hear the rest.'

'I don't?'

'No.'

'Then I most definitely do. Let me see!'

James stuffed it in his mouth. 'Still want to see it?'

She wrinkled her nose. 'Not particularly.'

Sirius stuck his head up through the leaves, grinning. 'How'd it go, Prongs? Like the last line?'

'What was it?' Lily pressed.

'James didn't say it?' Sirius looked very disappointed. 

'No. He ate it.'

'Stupid herbivore,' he muttered, then disappeared at again.

He popped back up a few seconds later. 'Oh, and Prongs? Lily?'

'Mmm?'

'Save the kissing until later. We don't want to have to rescue you.'

'Ha ha.'

'Ta ta,' Sirius grinned and waved goodbye. 

The Christmas holidays were coming up. Everything was decorated as it always was around this time of year, and one extremely weird suit of armour had teamed up with a painting of a mermaid, and the two of them went on tour around the castle. They didn't have much of an audience, rather, it was the opposite. People heard Sir Hickleburry approaching and ran for the nearest place that wasn't within hearing distance. 

Lily yawned on the last day of school, and looked sleepily at James. 'Are you going home for Christmas?'

He nodded. 'You?'

'Nah. I think I'll just sleep…You leave tomorrow, don't you?'

'Yup.'

'Oh.' She got up, kissed him goodnight, and then walked towards the door. She decided it wasn't worth it and fell asleep in a chair, looking exhausted. James grinned. 

'Night Lily.' He covered her in a blanket, and went to bed. 

Second year Rowena Archer and her friend Joey McIntyre stuck their heads out the window to say goodbye to their friends, when Rowena let out a loud disgusted noise. 

'Eurgh!' 

'What?' Joey looked around.

'What are they _doing_?' She was looking at James and Lily.

Sirius noticed them. _'That_ is known at kissing. Watch these two and you'll become an expert.'

They ignored him.

Rowena wrinkled her nose. 'I never knew it involved _eating_ each other…yuck.'

'It doesn't.' Sirius reassured her. 'They just want to make sure they have enough of each others saliva to last them the holidays.'

Lily reached out and slapped him. James got on the train, after punching Sirius playfully on the arm.

Rowena sat back down in her seat. 

'Let me remind you of something,' she said, looking at Joey, who was nibbling on a chocolate frog. 

'What?'

'I never, ever plan on kissing you. Okay?'

'Okay.' He shrugged. 'You'd taste yucky anyway.'

'I would not!'

'Well, I guess I'll never know.'

He handed her a chocolate frog. 'Want it?'

She looked at it, and shook her head. 'I've lost my appetite.'

Sorry that was short. It will get better after this, because my holidays are next week. *does a little dance* I'm looking forward to them. 

I don't know why I had 7a and stuff. I'm a bit crazy. The next part of Lily Angel will probably be up tomorrow. Hopefully. 

Please tell me what you think -there's this really cool little box under here you can do it in. See it? 

Everything is J.K. Rowling's. 

Next time there'll be Hufflepuffs, bodies, little glass balls, dolls and ice-skating. I'm trying to tie up some loose ends, although they won't all be done until the very end. 


	11. Parties...Hufflepuffs...evil witches who...

****

The Flower and the Stag

Part 9

James stared out the window. It was a few days before Christmas, and his family was out at a party. Maybe he should go too…his old friends would be there…maybe he could somehow smuggle Sirius, Remus and Lily out of the castle. His eyes lit up and he grinned to himself, feeling extremely pleased.

Then he sat down, puzzled, trying to work out how he could make this happen. Pickles was in yet another sticky mess (literally). So he wouldn't be able to deliver a message. Floo powder might work…he jumped up, grabbed the Floo Network Directory and flipped through to the H page. He ran his finger down the line of names, searching for Hogwarts. It was right at the bottom of the page, in bright gold letters. How he could have missed it, he didn't know. James checked the clock. Nine-thirty. 

Maybe he shouldn't. He'd probably end up right in Professor McGonagalls office, anyhow. He laughed, imagining her face. 

With a final glance towards the fireplace, he grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder and threw it in. The fire leapt up and the golden orange and yellow flames changed to bright green. 

'Gryffindor Common Room!' He yelled, after saying the password. 

James tumbled into the common room, and, to his great delight, came face to face with Sirius as he got up. 

'Prongs? I thought you were on holidays?'

Remus glanced up, but didn't look at all surprised. 'Aw, Padfoot, he couldn't do with Lily for a whole _two_ days. What were you thinking?'

'Ha ha. Where is Lily, anyway?' 

'Oh, round about. How come you're here? Did ya miss me?' 

'Not really. Want to come to a party?'

'Yeah!' He glanced guiltily towards Remus, who raised his eyebrows. 'Moony. You wouldn't tell McGonagall, would you?' 

'What have you done now?' James asked, looking disappointed. Not because he was disappointed in Sirius, of course, but because he'd missed out. 

'Er- turned McGonagall into a bat?'

James tried to hide his laughter. 

'She made a funny looking bat, too,' a new voice from behind them said. 

James turned around. 'Oh, hello, Lily.' 

'Hello. Couldn't stay away from us, eh?'

'Actually, I was going to take you and the others back with me.' 

'We're supposed to be at school.' She pointed out.

'It's holidays!' He said, fluttering his eyelashes and grinning at her. 

Lily raised her eyebrows. 'Don't do that.' She advised. 'It makes you look remarkably like Katherine McDowell.' 

Sirius laughed. 

'Oh, yuck, yuck, yuck,' James said, grimacing. 'That is _not_ what I want.'

'I figured. So you want to take us to a party?'

'Yeah! How 'bout it, Moony, Padfoot?' 

Lily sat down. 'Can I have a nickname? I'm sick of it being Prongs, Wormtail-' she sniggered-' Padfoot and Moony. I want one too.'

'Can't we discuss this later?' James said, looking at the clock. 'We'll be late.'

Lily crossed her arms. 'I'm not leaving till I have a nickname.'

'Okay. Bye, Lily.' Sirius jumped into the fireplace after sprinkling some powder in. 'Wait a second. How about Mud Puddle?'

__

'Excuuuse me?' 

'It's the opposite to Lily.'

'Oh, Sirius, you're just _so_ funny. Forget this.' She got up. 

'Good. You're coming.' James said, leaning against the wall. 

She glared at him, but he could tell she wasn't angry. 'If I get expelled for this, I'll kill you. Okay?'

'Okay.' 

'Good.' She jumped into the fireplace. 'Aberdene!' 

James looked around at his friends, all of whom were throwing raisins up in the air and trying to catch them in their mouths. 

'Great party, Prongs,' Lily said, taking a break from raisin throwing. 

"Prongs?' A girl called Tina said. 'Why Prongs?'

'He's -er- a vegetarian,' Lily explained.

'Oh. Right.' She threw a raisin up high and ran to catch it, bumping into Remus as she did so. 'Oof! Sorry.'

He picked himself up. 'S'okay.' 

Lily plopped down onto the ground next to James and Sirius. 'This is fun. Where d'you know Tina and the others from? They don't go to Hogwarts.'

'They go to school at home,' he said. 'Tina's my mothers friends daughter. We've known each other since we were little kids.'

'She has an obsession with unicorns,' Sirius said, rolling his eyes. 'There are like, twenty posters of them up in her room, all of which neigh. Or make whatever sounds unicorns make.'

'How would you know this, Sirius Black?' Lily asked, grinning, and helping herself to a handful of chips. 

'Mum made me go over her house once, when she had to work. She was late home, and I had to stay the night.'

Lily spat out her chips.

'Hey! I was only ten! Besides, I couldn't sleep…I don't know how she does sleep at all. They prance around all night.'

'It wasn't that,' Lily answered, in between coughs. 'It was the chips,' she spluttered. 

'Are they poisonous or something?' 

'Probably. They taste _foul_.' She punctuated this sentence by falling backwards onto the floor in a dead faint. 

'Lily! Sirius, help me carry her-'

'James!'

'What? Sirius-'

__

'Use your wand!' 

'Oh. Oh, yeah. _Mobiliarcorpus_.' He said, flicking his wand. 

'Now what do we do?' Remus asked, wringing his hands.

'We need to get some help. Come on, we'll take her to Hogwarts. Madame Pomfrey'll never know what happened, she doesn't ask questions.'

'James, I think she'll ask questions now. We can't exactly say, we were at a party we weren't supposed to be at.'

'I _know_. But we have to do something, and that's our best option!'

'Okay, okay. I'll go in first, you go in second and carry her.'

'Yeah, hurry up! She's gone all white.'

Tina and a black haired girl rushed over. 'What happened?' Tina asked breathlessly, looking at Lily with concern.

'Oooh. She's all pale.' The black haired girl said this with some kind of relish. 

'Shut up, Souraya. James, is she okay?'

'I don't know.' He jumped into the fire, and both he and Lily disappeared. 

Souraya watched them go with a tiny smile playing about her lips. 

'Tina, how'd you know that was the Lily Master was talking about?' The girl called Souraya asked curiously. 

'James told me he liked some red head,' Tina answered, dropping the worried look. She sneered. 'There aren't many of them, are there?'

'Think she'll die?' 

'Hopefully. What spell did you use?'

'Er- I'm not sure. I think it was that bacterial one. Where it sort of eats your insides.'

'Excellent.' She now looked most unlike the Tina James and Sirius knew. 

Souraya grinned. 'That Black's pretty cute, eh? Pity he's not on our side.'

'Nothing says we can't change that,' Tina said confidently. 'Though without darling little _Lily_-' she spat her name out '-we might get a little further.' She glanced at Remus, who was packing up their things to go back to Hogwarts. 'For a werewolf, he isn't bad.'

'I still like Sirius,' Souraya said stubbornly. 'Think we'll be able to get him?'

'Shut up, Ray.' Tina said affectionately. Souraya looked offended. 'We'll get the whole Potter gang. Shame Pettigrew's such an idiot. We might get further.'

'True. But what about-'

'Yes, Souraya, we will try to get Black. Okay? Are you happy?'

Souraya's dark blue eyes shone. 'Yup… Are all the chips poisoned? I'm hungry.'

Tina groaned. 'How the hell should I know? You're the one who cast the spell.'

'Maybe we could sniff the chips in each bowl. I think the ones that are poisoned have a certain smell.'

'Great thinking, Sherlock. We dispose of them, idiot. We don't want people to know what we did, do we?'

Souraya's black hair fell across her eyes. 'We don't?' 

'Of course we don't, twit. For gods sake, you're almost as dumb as Pettigrew.'

'Hey!'

'I said _almost_,' Tina said hastily. While her raven-haired friend was most definitely slow on the uptake, she was a powerful witch. 'We'd get sent to Azkaban. If Master didn't kill us first. So we get rid of them.'

'Right. A fire spell?'

'Yes.'

As Remus stepped over to the fire, he watched James's old friends. The brunette, Tina, was whispering something to her friend, who he had found to be rather stupid. He stepped into the fire, and the last thing he saw was a large bowl on fire, slowly disintegrating. 

James and Sirius rushed to the hospital wing with Lily hovering next to them. 'She's not breathing.' James said urgently. He started to run, and they burst through the double doors breathlessly, gasping for air. 

'Potter! Black! What are you doing here at this hour of the mor-' she caught sight of Lily. 'What happened?' she asked, checking the girls pulse. 

'She ate something, and then- just- fainted.' Sirius explained hurriedly, as James didn't look able to talk. 

'What did she eat?' 

'Chips,' James answered, recovering. 

'Boys, please leave. On second thoughts, get the headmaster. There's a powerful dark spell on her. If we don't have help she may die.'

They both stared at her, dumbstruck. 

'Hurry!' The nurse said, not looking up. 'The password's Life Saver.'

'Life saver?' James said, panting, as they sprinted through the corridors. 'How appropriate.'

'D'you think she'll be okay?'

'I hope so. God, I hope so… Sirius, it's all my fault,' he stopped for long enough to say the password to the gargoyle, and then started to run up the stairs leading to Professor Dumbledore's study. 

'Mr Potter? Mr Black? What's happened?' he added, as he caught sight of their faces in the dark. 

'Lily! Ate -something! She'll die- professor- help her, Pomfrey sent us.' Sirius babbled breathlessly, not making much sense. But it was enough for Dumbledore, and he dashed out the door.

James collapsed into a chair. 'If she dies, it'll be all my fault.'

Sirius looked at his best friend sympathetically. 'No, it isn't. You didn't force the chips down her throat, did you?'

'No.' he muttered. 

'And you didn't force her to come, did you?'

'No. What's your point?'

'That it _isn't your fault.'_

'Whatever.'

'James, listen to me. She won't die. Dumbledore wouldn't let that happen.'

He nodded, because there was a lump in his throat he couldn't get rid of and he couldn't speak. 

'She'll be okay,' Sirius repeated softly. 

They sat silently for a few moments, until Sirius stood up, yawning. 'Come on. We'd better go to bed.'

'To bed? What about Lily?'

'We have to sleep, Prongs. You'll see her in the morning.'

'I'm going to see her now,' James answered stubbornly. 

Sirius looked up at him, and sighed, seeing there would be no changing his mind. 

'Fine. I'll walk you there, but then I'm going to bed. Okay?'

'Yeah.' James shrugged, and walked down the stairs slowly, looking absolutely exhausted. 

The two friends walked in silence to the Hospital wing, partly because they didn't want to get caught by Filch, and partly because there just wasn't anything to say. 

'I'll see you in the morning, then?' 

'Yeah,' James answered, not listening properly. His eyes were on the door, through which he could see the Headmaster, Madame Pomfrey and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick all leaning over Lily's body, which looked so still. 

Sirius left, and James entered the hospital wing, biting his nails. They didn't notice him, so he sat quietly on a bed, watching and listening. 

Finally, a few hours later, Professor Dumbledore looked up, and smiled at James, whose eyelids were drooping. 

'Will she be okay?' He asked. 

Dumbledore's blue eyes had tears in them. 'I don't know, James. But I think she will be.'

Madame Pomfrey levitated Lily onto a bed, pulled the sheets up and tucked them under her arms. James pulled a chair over to her bed, and sat down, leaning against the mattress. Professor McGonagall didn't have the heart to tell him to go to bed, so she and Dumbledore left, closing the door behind them quietly.

Madame Pomfrey placed a drink of water on the bedside table, then retreated to her office, looking forward to a cup of hot chocolate. 

James rested his elbows on the bed, and gazed at Lily sadly, too tired to do anything but raise his hand and stroke her knotted hair gently.

Lily struggled to open her eyes. It felt as though they were glued down, and as they slowly fluttered open, she caught sight of a mess of black hair spread over the blankets. She smiled, and reached over, patting James's head. He looked up. 'Lily?' he mumbled. 

'No. it's Kermit the Frog.'

'Oh.' He said groggily, to sleepy to get it. 'Morning Kermit.' Then his head went back down, and he fell asleep again.

Lily saw Madame Pomfrey approaching, balancing two breakfast trays on her hands (Lily suspected she was using magic.) 

'Good morning.' She placed the trays on the bed next to Lily's, and checked her pulse, only pausing for a moment to smile at James, who was still conked out. 

'Shall I wake him up?' She asked.

'Nah, he looks so innocent…I'll probably never see this again.' 

'True. How are you feeling?' She asked, regaining her professionalism. 

Lily would have liked to say that she felt fabulous, but the ache in her head was too strong, and she muttered 'not all that great.'

'Not great?' The nurse murmured. 'Have some of this.' She pulled a spoon out of her pocket. It was full of a liquid that looked purple and green, depending on how you saw it. All in all, it didn't look very edible. Lily wrinkled her nose. Then her head throbbed, more painfully than all the times before. Reluctantly, she took the medicine, though not without pulling a face. 

'Right. I'll check on you in half an hour, just buzz if you feel sick.' Madame Pomfrey left, wishing she had a camera. She could make millions if she sold that photo of James. For one of the most well known troublemakers in the entire school (along with Sirius and Remus) he looked rather adorable while he was sleeping. 

Lily was thinking this as she ate her breakfast, being careful so as not to spill on his head. Then he looked up quite suddenly, knocked her hand, and they both ended up with cornflakes all over the bed (and them) 

James felt his hair. 'It's wet.' He said, pointing out the obvious. Lily shook her hands, trying to get the soggy cereal off them. 

'Is it really? That's because it has milk in it.'

__

'Eurgh. How'd it get milk in it?' He noticed the spoon Lily was holding. 'You didn't have to wake me up like _that_,' he said, with a wounded expression on his face. 

'I didn't _mean_ to.' 

'Yeah. Right.' He looked hard at her for a moment. 'Lily!'

'Who else would I be?'

'I thought you were Kermit,' he said, looking puzzled. 

She rolled her eyes, but before Lily could come up with any smart remarks, James had engulfed her in a bear hug, and her head was up against his arm. It made it quite difficult to speak.

When he let her go, Lily saw his eyes were misty. She'd never seen him cry. 'I thought you were dead,' he whispered. 

'Silly deer.' She muttered, hugging him and patting his head (however wet it was).

'I thought I'd killed you,' he said, his voiced choked up with tears. 

Lily pulled away and looked at him sternly. 'I am not dead, see that? And you didn't do anything to me, right?' 

'Right,' he muttered feebly. 

'Good. And I think you'd better get back home.'

'McGonagall's already seen me.'

'She has? Why?' 

'You were really sick. You stopped breathing on the way here. Pomfrey said you might die…Don't you remember?'

'No…I remember everything going dark. Like I was asleep. And then there were all these bright lights.' She closed her eyes, remembering. 'It was all…golden, I think. And peaceful.' She opened her eyes, looking at James with an almost sad expression on her face. 

'Do you think that was Heaven?'

'Yeah. I think it might have been.'

Lily lay back on her pillow, staring at the ceiling, thinking about heaven. 

James grinned suddenly, his old troublemaker's grin returning in full strength. 

__

'What?' Lily asked suspiciously, seeing this.

'I have a nickname for you.' 

'Judging by the expression on your face, I don't want to hear this.'

'Probably not.'

'So what is it, then?' Lily braced herself, praying it had nothing to do with mud. 

'I think I will call you Kermit from now on.'

Lily sat bolt upright and stared at him. 'You have _got_ to be joking.'

'You're the one who brought up the subject of nicknames in the first place.' He said, brown eyes twinkling. 

'Not _Kermit_,' she groaned putting her head in her hands. 

Madame Pomfrey rushed out. 'What's wrong?' She asked, looking extremely worried. 

Lily looked up. 'Kermit.' She said, a blank expression on her face. 

The nurse glanced at James questioningly. 'What's this?' 

'Oh, nothing. She's fine.' 

Madame Pomfrey raised her eyebrows, but left, shaking her head.

'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and Kermit. Sounds pretty good, eh?' 

Lily groaned. 'My head hurts.' 

James leaned in closer, trying to see her face. 'Lily? Are you-'

She knocked him off the bed. 

James left Hogwarts later that night, after explaining matters to all his professors. Luckily, they were all relieved that Lily was okay, so none of them were in the mood to get James into too much trouble. 

He arrived at home, all to aware of the trouble he was in with certain members of his family. Namely, his mother and father. 

'James Potter.' Mr Potter said slowly, watching him crawl out of the fireplace. 'Where, may I ask, have you been?'

'Er- school?'

'Pardon?'

'Lily was sick. I- I wanted to see her. Dumbledore said- he said she might die.' James looked down. 'Sorry.'

His mother rushed in, and wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing. 'My baby!' She put his cheeks in her hands. 'Oh, my baby!'

__

'Mum.' James pulled away. _'Lemmego_!' 

She looked at him. 'Where on earth have you _been_? I thought you were dead! You could have been _killed_, you could have been _abducted_, you could have been run over by some maniac in a _car_.'

James rolled his eyes. "I've already told dad. I was at Hogwarts, Lily was really sick.'

'Oh, Lily. Is she okay?' Mrs Potter forgot about maniac muggles running over her baby for a moment. 

'She's fine now.'

'Oh, James, I just remembered. '

'Mmm?' James turned around to look at his father for a moment. 

'Max Reilly told me that his daughter will be coming to Hogwarts for awhile. Some kind of exchange program.'

'You mean Souraya?'

'Yeah, black haired little thing. Quite clever, I gather.'

'I know her. She's mentally unbalanced.'

'James!'

'She _is_. I'm not saying that in a bad sort of way. She's just a bit…crazy. But she's as good in charms as Lily. And practically a genius in everything else. It's just life she has trouble with.'

'Max said she'll be there for about a month. Look after her, won't you?'

'Course I will. I'm going to bed. Night mum, dad.' 

His parents watched him leave, Mrs Potter with an amused look on her face. 'Sometimes I think _he's_ the one who's mentally unbalanced.'

'Max Reilly.' Mr Potter muttered, stroking his chin. 'There's something about him…I'm not sure what.'

__

'Lachlan.' His wife looked at him from behind the daily prophet. 'Mr Reilly's been a good friend to you all these years. You can't go doubting your friends. Where would that leave you? Friendless and scared. I _know_ you're scared. But you need your friends at a time like this. _James_ needs his friends.'

'I know. But Max. Something isn't right about him. Or it might be his girl…Souraya, isn't it?'

'Lachlan, she's the little girl who used to fall out of trees when James's friends came over to play.'

'And then levitate herself back up, even without a wand. She's damn fine witch, Luce, no denying it.'

'Another one for our side, then.'

Mr Potter said nothing.

'Lachlan! Voldemort wouldn't be recruiting schoolgirls now, would he?'

'I didn't say that. But why doesn't she go to school? She and Tina are schooled at home. Since when was that normal, Lucy?'

'Kyara Jem is one of my closest friends! There is _nothing_ wrong with her family. Tina's a lovely girl.'

Lachlan Potter sighed. 'I better go to bed. Work starts early tomorrow.'

'It's Christmas Eve!' 

He reached over and kissed his wife on the cheek. 'I'm sorry. But we can't have everyone taking a day off on Christmas. We'd get attacked for sure.'

Lucy looked at the ground. 'Goodnight,' she said softly.

James listened from his bedroom. 

'Voldemort.' He muttered, hatred swelling inside him. 

The next day, as he played chess with himself in the living room, the fire glowed bright green, and a few moments later, a girl with dark red hair rolled out, covered in soot. 

'Ouch.' Lily looked up, wiping the soot from her eyes. 'Hullo James.'

'Kermit?' 

'Oh, don't say it. You just had to tell Sirius, didn't you? Now every time I get within ten metres of him, he calls out 'Ribbit!' It's ridiculous. And he croaks.' Lily rolled her eyes. 

'Er- why're you here?'

'Asked McGonagall.'

'Pardon? Why would she let you come here?'

Lily looked puzzled for a moment. 'Actually, I don't know. Maybe the Christmas spirit was getting to her.' She snickered. 'Flitwick's been singing carols at the top of his lungs for the last two days. Sirius won't admit to charming him, but-' she shrugged. 'He never admits to anything.' 

James grinned. 'So, what're you doing here?'

'Visiting you.'

'Just couldn't wait for me to get back?' He teased.

'Needed to get away from Sirius, more like it. And I'm taking you out.'

'Ooh. Where?' 

'Ice-skating.'

'What's that?'

'You don't know what ice-skating is? Where have you _been_?'

'Hey, you didn't know what Quidditch was.'

'That's different. Come with me.' 

She took his hand and pulled him out the door, walking briskly along the footpath, looking for a bus stop. 

'Where exactly are we going?' 

'Ice-skating.'

'You still haven't told me what that is.' 

'James, think about it. Ice. Skating. Skating on ice.'

'Why would anyone want to skate on ice?'

'Why would anyone want to fly? Er- dumb question. Don't answer that. Anyway, it's fun. T almost feels like you're flying. You have to remember muggles don't have brooms. Well, they do, but not flyable brooms.' 

'Whatever. What are we doing now?' They had stopped, and were standing waiting by a sign. 

'Waiting for a bus.'

'Why don't we just walk? Or, on second thoughts, we could fly.'

'Great idea,' Lily said absently, as the bus approached. 'Come on.' 

James looked out the window. 'Everything looks much larger. I'm used to seeing it from up high.'

'See? Muggle technology does have some uses.'

James snorted. 'Some. Are we there yet?'

Lily craned her neck to see out the window. 'Er- almost. We get off at the next stop.'

'Good. This bus is cramped.' James leaned back in his seat. 

Lily shook her head, and then stood up. 

'Oooh. It's pretty.' James was talking about the frozen pond that lay before them. 

'Yeah, I know. Petunia and I used to come here every winter. She wasn't a bad skater, actually.'

There were lots of kids gliding along the ice, some doing tricks, some struggling to stay on their feet. 

'Hurry up, slowpoke,' Lily said, shoving a pair of skates on her feet. 

'I don't have any skates…Where'd you get them?' Lily had pulled a pair of blue skates out of her bag, which looked just the right size. 'I'm getting better at Transfiguration,' she said with a grin.

James laced them up, and then tried to stand. 'They make it a bit difficult to walk.' He said, looking down at his feet. 

Lily got up. 'You're not supposed to walk. You _skate_.' 

'Won't it be slippery?' 

'Yeah. But that's part of the fun.' 

James wrinkled his nose, and looked at the ice. 'You sure about this?'

'Course I am.' She walked over to the pond, and stepped onto it. 

'It doesn't _look_ hard. ' James said. 

'Just get on, James.'

So he did. And for a moment, he looked as though he might stay up. A few seconds later, however, he was sitting on the ice, looking quite unhappy.

'Ouch. That hurt.'

Lily giggled, then covered her mouth in apology. She held out her hand to help him up. 

'Oof!' They sat on the ice together. 'I was trying to help you!' Lily said in between giggles. 

'I didn't mean to. It was an accident. I think I'm better at flying.' 

'I think you are too…My bums getting cold.'

'I can't feel mine any more.'

Lily laughed, and got up, leaning on the rail. 'Here. I'll help you.' She pulled him to his feet. 'Hold onto m hand, okay? You sort of slide along.'

'Right. _Sliiiiide_. Oof!' 

'No, not on the ground. On your feet.' 

'Ha ha. Just because _you_ can skate.'

As they moved (very slowly) along the ice, and James fell multiple times, Lily joked and laughed. 

'You need a pillow.'

'I do not!'

'You'll break your butt if you keep this up.'

'Thanks for the sympathy.'

After awhile (with Lily laughing the whole time) James topped falling down, and they skated along silently, feeling quite content. 

'Hey ! know her!'

'Who?'

'That girl.'

'The one spinning round in a circle or the one on the ground?'

'The one spinning round in a circle.'

'You _would_ know her.'

'Just remember,' Lily said, as they approached the girl. 'We go to a boarding school somewhere in England, do not mention _anything_ about broomsticks. Got it?'

'Got it.'

'Hey Charlie!' Lily called, waving with her free hand. 

'Charlie?' James muttered. 'I thought that was a girl.'

'It _is_ a girl, dope.'

'Oh. Right.'

'Lily!' The girl skated over, grinning. She had short brown hair and dark brown, almost black eyes that shone in the daylight. 

'I haven't seen you for zonks!' 

'Zonks?' James said.

'That's Charlie talk.' Lily answered. 'You cut your hair!' She said, fingering Charlie's dark locks. 

'Yeah. The dumbest thing I've ever done. How've you been?'

'Good. This is James.' 

'Hello.' She had a different accent, almost Irish or Welsh. 'You two go to the same school?'

'Yup. James has a detention almost every night.' 

'And Lily comes every second night,' James answered good-naturedly.

Charlie grinned. 'I can't believe how _hard_ school is. Have you done Calculus? Oh, course you have. We've been doing it since the very beginning of school this year; it's so darn hard. I can't figure it out. Can you do it?'

'Er- it's okay, I guess.'

James tried to hide his confusion. He would have left, but as they were right in the middle of the ice rink, he didn't want to fall over. It might not be possible to get up. 

'How bout you?' Charlie was talking to him.

'Er- I'm not very good at it.' 

Charlie nodded sympathetically 'The only person in my class who's any good at it is Penelope White- remember her, Lil?' Lily nodded. 'Yeah, well, she's come, like, top in every single class.'

'She was the one who used to quote the dictionary, wasn't she?'

Charlie grimaced. 'She still does. And you know Matty Walker?'

Lily grinned. 'Yeah?'

'He's got his heart set on coming up with some world changing formula in Chemistry.' She rolled her eyes. 'Didn't he dye your hair purple once?' 

'I have been trying to erase that incident from my mind.'

'Oh, yeah, I just remembered. This weirdo just moved in next door. I think her name's Tina Jem, or something. Know her?'

Lily shook her head, but James nodded, looking surprised. 'I know her.'

'Do you think she's a bit odd?'

'I guess…' he thought about the argument his parents had had the night before. 'How do you mean weird?'

'Oh, like, she's always chanting and stuff. Mum reckons she's a witch, but, like, magic doesn't exist.' She rolled her eyes. 'She's so dumb sometimes. But this Tina girl's creepy.'

'Charlotte Khife! Get over here this instant!'

Charlie turned around, looking furious 'What, Da?'

'Have you done your homework?' Her father roared.

She turned back to Lily and James. 'Sorry. Da thinks I'm a complete twit. Just because I got a D in chemistry…see you again?'

'I go back to school tomorrow,' Lily said apologetically. 

'Okay. Nice seeing you, anway.' She grinned, and leaned closer to Lily's ear. 'Cute boyfriend.'

The she skated off, glaring at her Da, who looked ready to kill. As they slid past Charlie, they heard part of the conversation.

'Wha' d'you think yer doin', talkin' 'o riff-raff like tha' eh?'

__

'Da. That's Lily. She was my _friend_.'

'Well, oo's tha' boy, eh? Can' 'e even brush 'is 'air, eh?'

'Shut up, Da.'

Lily giggled. 'She got nearly as many as detentions at school as you lot. And we only had six-hour days.'

'Sirius would be head-over-heels for her.'

Lily grinned. 'And then Jo would find out and Charlie would be no more.'

'Yes. Er- Lily?'

'Mmm?'

'It's getting dark.'

'WHAT? Sorry. Oh dear…McGonagall will _kill_ me. I said I'd be back by four…yikes.'

She let go of James's hand in her rush, and he crashed to the ground. 'Oh, sorry.'

James got up, wincing. 'Next time you want to go ice-skating, remind me to hide, okay?'

'Okay…Your pants are all wet, by the way.'

'I have noticed that.'

They arrived back at James's house late, and Lily practically leapt into the fire place- almost forgetting the floo powder. After wishing James a Merry Christmas, she left.

James walked into the kitchen after having a hot shower, and leaned on the bench, where his mother was making dinner. He watched as the carrots flew over to the stove. 'Mum?'

'Mmm?'

'You know Tina? 

'Tina Jem? Yes, of course I do.'

'Do you think there's something…_weird_ about her?'

__

'James, not you too.'

'I'm not saying she is. I'm just asking what you think.'

'No, I don't think there's anything strange about Tina. As I said to your father last night, I think she is a perfectly lovely girl.' The tomatoes flew rather ferociously into the pot, and water splashed everywhere. Mrs Potter waved her wand impatiently. 'You've been friends with her for ages.'

'I know, I know. Don't worry about it.' He left, thinking hard. 

James stood on Platform 9 and 3/4, his trunk heavier than it had been before the holidays. In it was two bagfuls of supplies from Zonkos from Sirius and Remus, a photo album full of pictures from Lily, new quill from Jo, and a box of chocolates from Peter. The chocolate box was half-empty, and only the chocolates filled with nuts and strawberry fillings (he was allergic to strawberries) were left. 

He sat on the train, eating chocolate frogs and flipping through the photo album. The best one there (of which Sirius had added a note to) was the one of all of them -not including Peter- cramming in to get in the shot together, Sirius grinning as idiotically as usual, Remus laughing, Lily grinning and elbowing Sirius in the side, and himself, glasses half falling off, hair just as messy as ever. At the bottom, on a piece of blue parchment, it said. _'Moony, Kermit, Padfoot and Prongs Forever.'_

On the way over to the castle, he had a run in with some Slytherins. 

'Oi, Potter!' He turned around. 

Severus Snape was coming towards him, sneering menacingly. 'Have a good Christmas? Heard your girlfriend almost died. Pity.'

'Get a life, Snape.'

He walked up to the castle, ignoring Snape's taunts, and as he went up to the common room, he wondered how Snape could have known about Lily. 

Before he reached the portrait, he was stopped by a large group of girls. A very angry looking group of girls.

The Hufflepuffs. 

'So, James,' their leader, Katherine McDowell said, glaring at him. 'Going for frogs, are we?'

'We are?' _She's lost her mind_, he thought. _Completely off her rocker._

'Heard about Cooper's new nickname. Why Kermit, eh?'

'She croaks in her sleep.' _Where the hell did that come from?_

'Oh, she does, does she?'

'Er- no?' He was outnumbered. Maybe he should run. James looked behind him, and, to his horror, found that he was cornered. 

'Leave him alone,' a voice commanded. 

The other girls spun around, revealing a petite girl with black hair. 

'Whose gonna make me?' Katherine said, not in the least worried about this newcomer. 

__

'Expelliarmus!' The girl cried. She wasn't holding a wand, and as she said the spell, it looked as though magic was coming out of her skin, making her glow. 

Katherine's wand flew out of her hand, and the girl caught it. 

'Don't mess with me, sweetheart. Now leave the boy alone.'

The Hufflepuffs fled, whispering about 'evil' witches. 

'So, James,' Souraya Reilly said, a tiny grin on her lips. She twirled Katherine's wand in her fingers. 'What's all this about frogs?'

'Don't ask. Er- thanks for saving me.'

'S'okay. You're in Gryffindor, aren't you?'

'Yeah. You?'

'I'm staying with the Slytherins. Should be interesting.'

'It should. Look, I've got to go. See you in Potions.'

'Hey, James, wait a moment.'

'What?'

'How's that redhead? Lily, isn't it?'

'She's okay. Someone poisoned her with a dark spell. They were pretty powerful. Couldn't have been anyone at the party, cause no one there was powerful enough.' He looked at Souraya carefully here. 

She almost blew it. How dare he say she wasn't powerful enough! How rude! 

'I guess not,' she managed to say calmly. 

'See you later, then. Bye.' Then he jogged up to the common room, wanting to test out the tricks Sirius and Remus had bought him.

'Prongs is back!' Sirius said, jumping up from his chess game. 'You wouldn't believe what has happened while you've been gone!'

'He turned McGonagall into a skunk.' Remus said, trying to hide his smile. 

'Pardon? I thought it was a bat.'

'That was ages ago,' Sirius said dismissively. 'Besides, she looked much better as a skunk. Why she chose to be a cat, I don't know.'

'Maybe because cats don't smell?'

'That couldn't been it. Oh, and Kermit's looking for you. She feeling a bit croaky.'

'Sirius, you are such a dork,' Remus said, laughing. 'He means she has a cold.'

'Where is she?'

'Doing something with Jo in their dorm, I think.' Sirius pulled a face, as if to say 'girls.' 

'Okay. I'll be back in a moment.' James disappeared up the girl's staircase.

Jo was sitting on her bed, looking very upset, and Lily was patting her shoulder sympathetically. Neither girl looked up as the door opened. James didn't say anything, and decided to leave when he saw the tears streaming down Jo's face, which was normally so cheerful. Lily glanced up when she heard his footsteps. He smiled, then looked at Jo questioningly. Lily shook her head. 

James went back downstairs, trying to remember if he'd ever seen Jo cry. He hadn't. 

Sirius frowned when he saw James face. 'What's wrong?' 

'Nothing,' James said quickly. Jo wouldn't want Sirius to see her now.

Sirius shrugged, but continued to glance at James throughout the evening, trying to work it out. 'Where's Kermit?' 

'Upstairs,' James answered. 

'Doing?'

'Stuff.'

Sirius sighed, exasperated. 'What is it, Prongs?'

'I don't _know_! But Jo's up there crying-' Sirius left the room barely a second after he'd finished talking. 

Remus glanced up from his game of chess with Holly. 'What was that all about?'

'I'm not really sure.' James sat watching the doorway, waiting for someone to come out. 

Lily walked in a moment later, looking extremely smug. James noticed dried tear streaks on her face, but she didn't look very sad at the moment. 

'What happened?' James, Remus and Holly said in unison. 

'The Death Eater killed her parents and her little sister. She was going to start Hogwarts next year.' Lily's green eyes were fierce. 

Remus stared at her, looking upset. 'When?'

'Yesterday. The owl only came today.'

'Poor Jo,' Holly muttered. 

'Yeah. Sirius is looking after her.' The smugness returned. 'Jo's almost stopped crying.'

The Slytherin dungeons weren't that bad, when she thought about it. Souraya looked around, feeling quite content. If you didn't count that horrible Snape (slimy thing, he was) trying to hit on her, it was altogether a pretty good day. The day before had been especially pleasing. Hopefully Tina wouldn't get caught. She hadn't wanted to go after the Gilles family, but master had been most insistent. Something about a girl at Hogwarts. 

Souraya wondered who this girl was. If it hurt her, if she cried. What did crying feel like, she wondered. Souraya wasn't quite as evil as Tina. She didn't mind blood, and didn't feel sorrow when people died- somehow, she just couldn't. No matter how much she wanted to. So she just accepted she was evil, and went along with Masters plans. _Their_ plans. 

So, she was to get the Cooper girl, was she? Well, she had no family. No one that would cry for her. Except James. The thought of James and his friend hit her like a hammer. Master and Tina hadn't told her about them. She had thought Lily was some redhead with no real friends. But, from what she had seen so far, Lily was popular, at least, in Gryffindor. 

Souraya shook her head, furious. She was there to do a job. There wasn't any time for sentimental thoughts now. 

__

How can I kill her?

Lily went up to bed that night, tip-toeing so as not to wake up Jo. Sirius said that she fell asleep crying, and only because she was too exhausted to do anything else. Lianne, Holly and Laura had all fallen asleep hours ago, Lily had gotten caught up in a discussion about Quidditch ('it is _not_ the best thing in the world, Sirius!' 'Yeah, well neither is James!') so now it was past eleven o'clock, and classes started tomorrow.

Before she climbed into bed, however, she saw a tiny little ball, glowing, sitting on the edge of her blankets. 

'What on earth-' she whispered, and picked it up, examining it closely in her hands. 

The glow dulled ever so slightly, so that the light wouldn't blind her as she pressed her face up close to its surface. 

A picture swimmed before her, and then became clearer. 

__

A small girl with black hair hanging over her shoulders stood on the edge of a cliff, staring down, as if deciding whether to jump or not. Her dark eyes, which for a moment looked black and empty, turned blue and Lily saw the tears in her eyes. But the face wasn't recognisable. Faces never were. The girl took a deep breath, and a tear spilled down her pale white cheek. It didn't seem to know where to go, as if no tears had ever slid down her cheek. 

She stopped short of jumping, and pulled her wand out, writing a message in purple lettering in the sky. They snaked through the stars, lighting up the entire night. 

****

Keep Dreaming 

Then she jumped.

Lily dropped the ball, and stared at it for a moment, then picked it up again. It was now showing someone's diary- someone writing in a small book. Their hand had a small scar, shaped like a star on it. The hand was white, it almost didn't look human, and it was just so white. A tiny drop of water fell onto the page, and smudged the ink.

__

…maybe poetry would help me figure myself out. Before Liesal turned strange she wrote poetry. She still writes chants, and they still send shivers up my spine, but I don't think it's for the same reasons. If Master knew what I was doing, he'd kill me. Probably use one of the worst curses on me, Avada Kedavra wouldn't be painful enough. 

So, here's a poem. I doubt it will help, and I'll probably just wipe it out anyway. 

Damn. How the hell do you write this stuff? It's ridiculous. I'd like to swear, but I promised myself I'd be good in this book, because something inside me wants to do something good. 

Stupid, stupid me! I need to cry, but I don't know how. Mum says I used to cry…used to wail. But now it's like I'm a block of ice that's frozen in eternity. I can't melt. I'm too frozen to melt. 

Or maybe I'm melting now. 

Maybe I'll melt once she's gone. 

Lily shivered. Who wrote that? Someone on the dark side, clearly. She should tell someone. 

__

I'll tell them in the morning, she thought tiredly. Lily fell asleep listening to Jo's ragged breathing, still choked up with tears. 

'Jo? Jo, it's time to wake up.' 

Jo turned around and looked at Lily with red eyes. 'Can't I just sleep for a bit longer?' 

'No. You have to get up. Come on, it's okay.' 

Jo swallowed. 'Okay. I'm okay.'

Lily nodded, hugging her. 'You're okay.'

'Okay. Now, we all want to get rid of her, don't we?' 

'We- don't exactly want to kill her,' one Hufflepuff said nervously. 

'Oh, not _kill_.' Souraya laughed, wondering how on earth she'd get these twits to help her. 'Just- er- expel her, maybe?'

'Oh, that'd be good!' Katherine McDowell said eagerly. 

__

Stupid girl, Souraya thought fiercely. _Can't she get it through her thick head that James is never going to fall for her, least of all if she 'accidentally' kills his girlfriend?_

'Anyway, if we kind of corner James so he can't help her, and then I'll take over the Lily situation, she'll be out of our hands.'

'Really?'

'Yup. So you corner him after divination, and I'll look after the rest.'

One Hufflepuff, who had a few more brains than the rest -not that that was really saying very much- spoke up, somewhat nervously. 

'But- why are you helping us? We're Hufflepuffs, you're a Slytherin exchange student' she looked at Souraya suspiciously. 'What d'you want?'

'To get rid of Lily Cooper.'

'But why? Are you after Potter as well?'

'In a manner of speaking.'

'You aren't going to _kill_ her, are you? Because, apart from her being James Potters girlfriend, she really isn't _that_ bad…she was actually really nice to me…' The girl trailed off.

'Be quiet, Alayna,' Katherine snapped. 'Sure. Look, Souraya, we'll help.'

'Thanks. I mean, good.' She walked away, wondering what the lump in her throat meant. She swallowed it. 

Lily looked at the new girl standing opposite her cauldron. 'Hullo. You were at that party, weren't you?'

'Yes,' Souraya answered shortly. 

'Have fun?'

'Yes.' _Shut up, shut up. I'm not your friend. I have to kill you, please don't make this harder…please. _

'Is it one leg or two?'

'It's three.'

'Three? Oh- oh, yeah. Sorry, my page is smudged.' 

'Hey, James.' 

__

Oh, God no. Not the Hufflepuffs.

'Hi Katherine. Look, I'm trying to get to my lesson on time.'

She leaned up to him. 'I'll walk you there.' 

'Er- no, thanks. And Divination is _that_ way.'

'We can go for a little walk first, can't we girls?'

'We can? Hey- someone- I'm being abducted here!'

'Souraya? What're you _doing_- _Souraya_- what is going on-' Lily's voice was muffled with a magical bind around her mouth. Souraya pulled her along, until they were out of the way of the castle, and within an Apparating area. 

'Quiet,' she hissed. Then they apparated to a cliff-top, where the wind was blowing fiercely. Hogwarts and the countryside was visible from here, and if Lily hadn't been terrified, she would have found it beautiful. 

'Souraya, _what is going on?' _

'I'm here to kill you.'

'But why? What have I done?'

Souraya stopped for a moment. 'I don't know. But Master will kill me if I don't. Tina will kill me.'

'Tina-' 

'Oh, yeah, that's her. Voldemort's little pet. Now. Time to die.'

'Please- you don't want to do this.' Lily spoke calmly. 

'How would you know what I do and what I don't want to do, eh? Course I want to kill you.'

'No. If you wanted to kill me you would have done it by now.'

'Shut up, Cooper. I can be powerful when I want to be. I'm clever. I'm just as clever as you.'

'You are…That was you diary, wasn't it?' 

'My diary…' Souraya whispered. 

'And- you're going to jump…Look- you're not evil! I know your not! Souraya- look at me.' She grabbed the other girl by the shoulders, and made her look her right in the eyes.

And this time, the black turned blue before she was about to jump. 

'You're not evil! Just cry, Ray, cry. You aren't!'

'But-' She suddenly looked as helpless as a little girl. 'He'll kill me!'

'He won't.' Lily said furiously. 'He won't! Dumbledore will help you- you aren't evil, Souraya, listen to me.'

'But- he- he'll kill me. I don't want to die!'

'He _won't_ kill you. I promise, he won't. But please don't jump. You can help us- we'll help you. I promise you with all my heart- we won't let you die. And wouldn't you rather die helping someone? Wouldn't you want to die knowing you'd done something good?'

The smaller girl looked up at her companion, and for the first time in years, tears filled her eyes. 

'You're good,' she whispered. 'Can I ever be like you?'

Lily hugged her. 'You can. You can, I know you can.'

That night, on the top of a cliff, two girls stood silently, the taller holding the smaller close to her. 

She cried. 

Everything except the stuff you've never heard of belongs to J.K. Rowling. 

Please review, and tell me what you think, even if you hated it. (please don't hate it)

Thanks. J

__


	12. Eeeeeverybooody huuurts...sooooometiiime...

****

The Flower and the Stag 

Part 10

__

I hate the world today

You're so good to me, I know,

But I can't change

Tried to tell you but you look at me 

Like maybe I'm an angel underneath 

Innocent and sweet

Yesterday I cried

Must have been relieved to see the softer side

I can understand how you'd be so confused

I don't envy you

I'm a little bit of everything

All rolled into one

-Meredith Brooks 'Bitch' 

Souraya felt limp as she and Lily walked back to Hogwarts. She decided she didn't like crying. Maybe at first it felt good, like opening a bottle that's been fizzing for ages and the cork just needs to pop, but now she just felt empty. She could always kill Lily, while she was under the impression that Souraya was good. But…no. She wouldn't. Lily could help her, she would. She had promised. 

'You okay?' Lily said quietly, sounding shaken.

'Fine.' Souraya marvelled at how strong she sounded. It came from years of having to be strong. 

'We're almost there,' Lily said, starting to walk faster as the castle grew larger on the horizon.

'Can't I just apparate us?'

'If Voldemort is watching you- and I think he might be- he can't track us on foot. If we apparate back, he'll see you _and_ me. I'm supposed to be dead, aren't I?' Souraya nodded 'This way, he'll just think you're lying low, until it's safe to go back to him.' Lily's pace became even faster, until she was almost running. 

Souraya was not fit, because the Dark Lord did not train his followers in Physical Education. They used magic. 

'Can we slow down?' 

'If we slow down, we won't get there until it's dark. Or is that okay?'

'It's fine.' 

Lily shrugged, and slowed down to a normal walking pace.

__

I hate the dark, Souraya thought passionately. _It's so- so- _cold_. _She looked at Lily, who didn't seem to be aware of the blackness closing in around her. 

__

Why do I have to pretend? I could have said 'sure Lily. I'm fine with running.' But then- she reasoned_- I would have collapsed a few miles back, and Lily would be carrying me. _

'I hate the dark,' Lily said suddenly, sounding like she was voicing something she had never told anyone. 'The last time I was outside in the dark, it was because my parents had been killed.'

'Oh.' She couldn't think of anything else to say. 'When- when was that?'

'A few years ago. I was fifteen.'

Souraya remembered that, but she didn't say anything. Master was feeling particularly vindictive that week, and had decided to go after 'the Cooper girl.' Souraya herself had been asked to go, but she was studying for an exam, and couldn't. She didn't exactly want to, either. 

'Do- do you miss them?'

'Yeah.' Lily looked around into the trees of the forest. 'All the time.' She walked a bit faster. 'Shit.'

Souraya glanced up in surprise. 'Pardon?' Lily didn't looked like the type of girl who would swear.

It was Lily's turn to look surprised. Souraya didn't look like the kind of girl who would say 'pardon.' She realised that she should answer her. 'Uh, we have to go through the Forbidden Forest.' 

'Oh. So?'

Lily raised her eyebrows. 'You've obviously never heard of the Forbidden Forest, have you?' 

'Well, yeah. James and Sirius used to talk about it all the time. Doesn't sound scary to me.' She tried to stop her teeth chattering. Whether it was with fear or the cold, she didn't know, and didn't really want to find out. 

Lily grinned slightly. 'They may have talked about it a lot, but trust me, I seriously doubt they've ever been in the Forest after dark. And if they have, it was only during-' Lily remembered she wasn't supposed to tell anyone about the Animagi transformations, and thought fast '-their first and second years, when they were even more stupid than they are now. If that's possible.'

'I thought you liked James?' Souraya said, stepping over a large log that had fallen down. 

'What? Oh, yeah, I do.'

'But you're always insulting each other-'

'Nah, we just tease. I did _use_ to hate his guts. In fact, in our third year, I think I preferred spinach to him…I hate spinach.'

Souraya grinned grimly to herself. This was the kind of conversation Lily would have with her friends. She was surprised the dark side hadn't managed to capture her yet. After all, if she was this kind to everybody…

'Souraya? Can you hear something?'

'Only our feet…some birds, I think they're hunting for mice-'

'No, I mean something- different. Weird, like.'

'No.'

'Just listen. Properly.' Lily pressed.

Souraya listened. 

*

James looked at the walls surrounding him, wondering if there were any secret passages nearby. Nope, this is was a completely unsafe area if Hufflepuffs were present. No escape whatsoever. 

He sighed, wondering when they'd come back. Or maybe- his eyes lit up- Sirius and Remus would be taking a midnight stroll, and they'd rescue him! If they saw his name on the map- but no. Sirius just _had_ to lose it, didn't he?

Of course he did. 

James was just plotting ways to get Sirius back- not necessarily because of the map accident, but just for all the times he had been hit by dungbombs and firecrackers- and he was just planning the finals details of the plan -which would run ahead considering he ever got out of this dump- when the door opened. 

Katherine McDowell walked in, smiling. 'Hi, James.'

He ignored her, and made a mad dash for the door. 

'Uh uh, uh,' she said, shaking her finger, grinning. She blocked the doorway. James marvelled at how she managed to take up the entire doorway, figuring she was a skinny, icky, altogether bitchy Hufflepuff. He realised his last thought didn't make exact sense. 'How long have I been without food?' He wondered out loud. 

'Oh, not long. I'm sure a strong man like you doesn't need food all that often,' she said in would-be-silky voice if it hadn't come from her. She brushed up against him, and James gagged. What did she think he ate, air? Biscuits? 

'Have you seen Lily?' He asked.

Katherine's blue eyes clouded over and narrowed, making her look more menacing that ever. 

'I was just _wondering_.' 

Maybe he could curse her…yeah…now, where was his wand? Ah, yes. He had shoved the mahogany wand into his back pocket. Hopefully it wasn't sticking out. Hopefully she wouldn't think to search him. James didn't like the thought of her hand in his back pocket. Lily's maybe, but not hers…he suddenly realised he better move quick before she tried to tie him down. 

__

'Petrificus Totalus!' He cried, whipping his wand out and pointing it at her. 

She fell down to the floor, her legs snapped together and her arms stuck straight to her sides. 

'Sorry.' He apologised, because she looked so- so _helpless_. Almost better than she normally looked, but not quite. 

Then he raced back up to the Common Room, wondering if anyone had tried to rescue him from their clutches. 

*

'I hear- nothing.' Souraya looked at Lily curiously, who had her eyes closed and was listening intently. 

She heard Lily mutter a Charm, and became even more curious. What could she hear?

'What's going on?' As Tina had often pointed out, Souraya was horribly impatient. 

'I can hear -something.' Lily crept forwards, trying to stop the leaves under her feet crunching. 'I don't know what it is,' she whispered. 

Souraya racked her brains, trying to come up with a plan. 

And then she remembered. 

Tina always said she was forgetful.

*

'Padfoot? Moony? Wormtail?' James stepped into their dorm and two heads popped up. 

'James! Where've you been all day?' James saw his best friend smirk in the moonlight. 'Out with Lily? Jo said she's not back yet.'

'No. Some Hufflepuffs cornered me and I've been suffering all afternoon.'

'Aww…poor Prongs. But then where's Lily? Did they attack her as well?'

'Er- umm- I don't think so. Maybe we should check.' 

'Yeah, good idea. They might be force-feeding her spinach or something.' Remus blinked, trying to wake up. 

'Eurgh. Where d'you think they'd put her?'

'Right where Filch'll see. We better hurry before Mrs Norris get revenge.'

The three boys left each wondering what a little -now very blue- cat could do to a seventeen-year-old girl. 

*

Souraya's eyes opened wide with fear, and she started backing away from the direction Lily could hear noises from. 

'What's wrong?' Lily hissed, also stopping in her tracks. 

'I- they- Lily, we have to hurry! Say a charm- or- or- I don't know, but do something quick!'

Lily nodded, though she had no clue what was frightening her companion. 

She whispered a charm and pointed her wand at the two of them. They could suddenly move a lot quicker, almost as if there was no gravity pulling them down. If Souraya hadn't dashed away, Lily would have quite liked to see how high she could jump. 

By the time they reached the castle, both girls were out of breath and weak in the knees, but they hurried into the castle, slamming the door shut behind them. 

Lily sat down, breathing deeply, watching Souraya with her bright green eyes. 'What- happened?' She gasped. 

Souraya didn't answer for a moment and when she did, she spoke quietly, most unlike the Souraya Reilly most people knew. 'I told the Dark Lord that I'd meet him in the forest- I- I- forgot, I didn't mean to-' she broke off, trying with all her might not to cry. Why did she care what Lily, goody-goody in all respects (at least when it came to school-wok) thought of her? _She_ wouldn't even have the stomach to do half the things Souraya had been able to manage by age thirteen. 

So why did she care?

James, Sirius and Remus rushed down to the Great Hall, after hearing a loud bang, it was only to find Lily and Souraya, both of whom were drenched -it had been raining and neither girl had noticed the water soaking through their robes- and Souraya was crying. James blinked. She was the strongest girl he knew. 

Lily looked up and saw them gaping at her, but she shook her head, not wanting to upset Souraya- not that it appeared possible, though you never knew. James shrugged, and they went back upstairs. 

'Do you want to go to Dumbledore?' Lily asked quietly. 

The black-haired girl nodded tearfully, wiping her eyes, feeling disgusted at herself. 

They walked up to the Headmasters office, doing their best to go along silently, as Filch had been punishing students with the worst punishments he could think of, ever since some students (not that Lily knew them) had drenched his beloved cat in sparkly paint. She still shimmered, and was still a startling shade of blue. James and Sirius had informed her of Filch's new state of mind, and she was most eager to stay away from him. 

'Okay. God, I _hate_ this gargoyle!' Lily kicked it with her shoe. 

Souraya, who still wasn't think clearly, calmly drew her wand and the gargoyle exploded neatly, falling to the ground in ashes. 

Lily stared at the mess before her. 'Right. Well. Up we go.' 

Lily knocked on the door, hoping he was there. If he wasn't, he would probably find his gargoyle while they were waiting for him, and she wasn't exactly sure how he'd take it. 

The door opened and Dumbledore's old, wrinkled face peered around.

'Ah, Miss Cooper, Miss Reilly.' Lily smiled, while Souraya wiped her eyes and wondered who he was talking about. Then she remembered what her last name was, and smiled weakly at the Headmaster. She wasn't used to be called 'miss.'

'I've been expecting you. Please, come in.'

The two girls entered his office and sat down, Lily biting her nails, Souraya looking calm and sophisticated, while she had an argument with herself in her head. 

__

You could be ruling the world, Ray, said the evil little voice in her head, and she could almost see it smiling at her, trying to make her do something, something bad. 

__

Maybe I don't want to rule the world, said the other voice

__

Why not? Have everything you ever wanted-

I couldn't have freedom

You call this freedom? Look, these people are scared for their lives! They don't know what to do! You don't have to join them; you could be with your own kind-

These are my own kind…and this is freedom. 

Souraya thought about this for a moment. Yes, this was freedom. Maybe they were scared, and maybe they didn't know what to do, but at least they were allowed to smile. She thought of Lily, who trusted almost everyone -except a certain little rat- of James, who was always fair, even if he did hate Slytherins, and of Dumbledore, who'd give anyone a second chance. And then of course there was Sirius, who was so damn cue it really didn't matter what he thought. 

__

Anyone? Said the evil voice, questioning her.

__

Anyone. She answered firmly. _Even me_. 

'Well then.' Professor Dumbledore sat down opposite them, and he was smiling, but his eyes appeared to be searching them, trying to see things even they didn't know. 'What did you want to talk about?'

Souraya shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and looked at Lily. 

'Er- well, Souraya was kind of on the Dark Side- but' Lily hurried on '-she's changed, and she's really sorry. Voldemort told her to kill me, but- she didn't.'

Whatever the Headmaster had been expecting, it obviously wasn't that, and it took him a moment to compose himself. 'And why did you change, Miss Reilly?' He looked directly at Souraya. 

'I…I didn't like what they were doing,' she said honestly, trying to think of a way to say it without sounding stupid. 'I- it wasn't fun, killing people.' She turned red. 'I didn't understand how they thought it was exciting. Sometimes-' she gulped '-sometimes I liked- liked not knowing what was going to happen next, and when Tina was around it was almost like having a real friend. So- I went along with it. But- but now I've changed, I really have! Please,' she looked at him and Lily pleadingly, begging them to believe her, 'I have.' 

Lily had heard it before, and she nodded -if Souraya was going to kill her she would have already. Professor Dumbledore gave her another hard stare, and then his blue eyes twinkled and the lines at the corner of his eyes wrinkled up. 'I believe you, Miss Reilly. I will talk to you tomorrow morning, at a more reasonable time. Professor Snape will tell you when to come.' She stared at him for a moment. 

'You mean I can go?' Her own blue eyes were a picture of disbelief and relief mixed up together. 

'Yes.' The Professor smiled. 'Off you go. Miss Cooper, please stay a moment.' Lily nodded and Souraya leapt up, grinning, her face feeling as though it were about to break from happiness. 

'Ah, Lily. It's a confusing world we live in, isn't it?'

Lily wasn't quite sure what to say, so she just said the obvious. 'Er- yes.' 

'That was a very noble thing you did. Most would not have forgiven someone else so easily.'

'You did.' Lily's eyes widened. Why was she always talking to the Headmaster like that?

He laughed. 'I have many years of experience. Tell me, how did you know she wasn't lying?'

'Her- her eyes changed colour. They were black…now they're blue.'

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully, stroking his beard. 'And why did you come here tonight? If I'm not mistaken, you would not have normally blown my gargoyle to pieces.'

'Your? Oh, yeah. Uh, sorry about that. Um, Souraya thinks that Voldemort is in the Forest…we had to walk through the forest,' she explained. 'And she got all scared and we ran away…she was just so scared, you see?' Lily was biting her nails as she spoke, though there were barely any nails left to bite. 

'Yes. Do you know where in the forest?' Professor Dumbledore leaned forward in his seat. 

Lily thought hard. 'Around the- East edge, I think? I'm not really sure.'

'Thankyou for bringing her in, Lily.' 

Lily nodded. 'S'okay.' 

'How is Mr Potter, by the way?'

Lily turned slightly pink, but composed herself and grinned. 'I think he was being chased by Hufflepuffs last time I heard.'

'Ah, yes. They still haven't figured it out yet?'

'Er- no, I don't think so.' _Figure what out?_ She thought, wondering if Dumbledore had lost it, then decided that he probably hadn't. 

'Before you go, Miss Potter- did I say Potter? I meant Cooper.' Lily turned red, and hoped whatever it was he said it quick so she could get out of there. 'I'm sure you've heard of Aurors?' 

Lily nodded. 

'What would you think of becoming something like an Auror? Not quite an Auror- we'll leave that to the professionals-' Lily could have sworn she heard him mutter something under his breath '-but it would be a great help to our side.'

Lily nodded again, not even needing time to think about it. 'Sure.'

'What were you thinking of doing when you left school?'

She hadn't thought about this. 

'Er- something to do with Charms, I think. I don't really know.'

Professor Dumbledore nodded his head, smiling. He glanced at his watch 'Goodness me, look at the time. Thankyou again for bringing Miss Reilly to me. I'll let you tell your friends where you've been.' 

Lily grinned and dashed out the room, praying her face wasn't too red. 

James, Sirius, Remus and Jo were all fast asleep in the common room. Holly was playing chess with herself, but the rest of the common room was empty of people and was almost silent, if you somehow managed to ignore Sirius's snores. 

Holly glanced up at Lily when she entered and smiled brightly, blinking because she was half-asleep. 

'Where on earth have you been? Oh, God, I sound like my mother. But where have you _been_?' 

'Maybe we should wake the others up,' Lily suggested. 

'Oh, yeah.' A few well-chosen words later, their friends were up, wet, and quite grumpy. 

'Evening, my pets,' Holly carolled cheerfully, ignoring the daggers they were sending at her. 'Oh, for goodness sake- Jesus Christ, why do I keep talking like Mum? Anyway, why don't you just use a spell?'

'What? Oh. Oh, yeah.' 

When they were all dry and had drenched Holly as payback, all five of them gathered around Lily, asking where she'd been in one voice. 

'Let's just say that Souraya- you know, that exchange student?' She said to Holly and Jo, who didn't know her. 'She was working for Voldemort.' James turned pale. 'She's back now, she was supposed to kill me but she didn't. Honest.' 

Sirius looked sceptical. 'Are you sure?' 

'Yes, I'm positive. She had a billion chances to kill me, and she didn't. She even went to Dumbledore…so be nice to her, won't you?' Lily sounded anxious. 

'Kay… hey, have you heard about James's fabulous day?' Sirius sounded delighted. 

'No. I heard something about Hufflepuffs but- what happened?'

James looked pained. 'I was trapped all afternoon. And- uh oh.'

'What?'

'I think Katherine McDowell is still there.'

'So?'

'She can't exactly _move_.' 

Lily snorted, and soon all six of them were laughing. 

A few weeks later, Lily, James, Jo, Sirius and Remus were sitting on the grass outside, enjoying the sunshine that was unusual in February. In fact, there'd barely been any snow at all this year, though the five seventh years weren't particularly bothered about the weather at the moment. 

Sirius was just about to challenge James to a game of Chess- he hadn't beaten him in weeks- when there was a very loud bang from somewhere near the forest. 

Sparks started flying up, and many of the students who happened to be outside- especially the brave (and stupid) went to investigate. 

'Great.' Sirius muttered. 'Now either James'll go, and Lily'll follow, because they obviously could let the other go -' Sirius pulled a face '-and then Remus'll have to choose either to make them come back and be rational or go and save the world- I'd say he'll choose the latter- and then you'll probably go, and I'll have to follow- that is, if I haven't already left because I've lost my mind too-'

Jo looked up from digging a little hole in the grass- she had a horrible habit with pulling out grass. 'Why'd you follow me?'

'Hey, I don't want all my best friends over there and me here all by myself.' He looked a bit surprised. 

Jo nodded, and then realised that James, Lily and Remus had already left. 'I think it's our cue.' She said, grinning.

'Yup. Who went first, Prongs or Kermit?'

Jo looked over to the forest, where Lily was trying to drag James away from all the commotion. 'James, I think.' 

'Come on, then. Don't want to miss out on all the action.'

The two of them jogged over and caught up with the other three, who were peering over the heads of the crowd. 

A tall man in black was standing in a clearing, holding his wand above his head, flying the sparks up. He was holding a girl down with a spell.

Holly. 

Lily gasped, and tried to fight through the crowd to get her away. James and Remus held her back by her robes. 'Lily!' James hissed quietly, so no one could hear. 'They've been trying to kill you for the last three years. Don't be stupid.'

Lily stopped struggling, but still looked determined to do something. 

Before anyone could do anything, however, a small figure pushed towards the front of the crowd. 'Avery.' She said coldly, and the figure pushed back her hood, revealing long, black, shiny hair.

'Souraya!' Lily whispered, and this time she did get to the front, before anyone could stop her. 'What are you doing?' 

Souraya turned around, her blue eyes shining. She smiled at Lily, and mouthed 'thankyou.' Then she stepped up to the dark wizard. 

'It's not her you want.' She said clearly, making the crowd whisper excitedly. 'It's me.'

'Ah, the little Reilly girl. Changed sides, have we? Well, Master did say you weren't to live much longer. What harm would it be if I killed two girls? Not much difference, I'm sure. He lowered his wand. 'No.' Lily said quietly. 'Not Holly, someone, do something!' 

__

'Avada Kedavra' Avery hissed. Souraya fell to the ground, lifeless. 

'There goes one little nuisance. And now for the second. Miss Parker, I presume?' He looked at Holly, who stared up at him determinedly. 

'What can we do?' Lily whispered, terrified. 

But before they could do anything, Holly was on the ground. 

'NO!' 

Avery laughed, and apparated away. Lily rushed to Holly, whose hair hung over her face. 'Someone get Dumbledore, quick!' 

Half the people gathered rushed away, not wanting to stay any longer. 'They're dead, aren't they?' Lily said numbly, not wanting to believe it. 

James nodded, his brown eyes hard and cold. 

When the Headmaster came, they left, after a last glance at the two girls, both of whom were still on the ground. 

Lily collapsed onto her bed, refusing to talk to anybody or anything, and she threw her mirror on the ground when it tried to say something cheerful. James knocked on the door tentatively, having her stories from all her room mates -especially Lianne, who had had a clock thrown at her- about what a terrible mood Lily was in.

'Kermit?'

Lily buried her face in her pillow, muttering something. James sat down on her bed, and Lily lifted er head ever so slightly. 'I _said_, go _away_.' 

'Oh, sorry. I didn't quite catch that.' He looked around, wondering if he'd have to intercept any flying clocks. It appeared that the other girls, in fear of their safety had confiscated all the clocks (and any other objects that were hard and light enough to throw- such as chairs), so he was reasonably safe in his present position.

'Lily, what's wrong? I know you're upset about Holly and 'Ray, but there isn't anything we can do.'

Lily wondered if throwing James the Second (her teddy) would hurt him. She decided that it wouldn't, and stayed silent. 

'Why are you so angry? There's no way you can block Avada Kedavra, you know that.' 

Lily sat up, and James saw that her eyes were red from crying. 'We just had to _stand_ there, and watch them _die_. It wasn't fair.' She looked up at James, her eyes shiny with tears. 'It wasn't fair. I just felt so helpless! Why did they have to kill her? She hadn't done _anything_!' 

James hugged her tight, rocking her back and forth, trying to calm her down. 

'And- and Souraya. She was good. You know, she was going to help us? On our side…I hate them.' She clenched her fists. 'I _hate_ them.' 

That was…depressing. I'm not feeling very cheerful, sorry if that was boring. Someone asked a while ago what netball is. It's a sport (obviously) that's a bit like basketball- not a lot, but you have to shoot goals into a hoop, only there's no backboard. Um, it's kind of hard to explain. I've been very busy (me? Busy? She has a _life_?) so yeah. The next part should be up sooner. There's only going to be a couple more- I just realised how long their seventh year has been- but there will be a sequel, for when they've left school. 

Thanks for all the reviews. J

~ Tropical Fishy 


	13. *wails* The eeeend...many, many tears......

This is the last part. There will be a sequel, coming out sometime during the next week. And yes, James -why's it always the guy- ooh, maybe it'll be Lily! Anyway, they will get married, or engaged or whatever. Please tell me what you think, 'specially if you haven't reviewed the rest. Thanks everyone who did. 

****

Dedicated to David, and all the doctors and nurses at the Adelaide Children's Hospital, especially Dr Palmer, Dr Flett, and Dr Kennedy. 

The Flower and the Stag

Chapter 11

__

She falls apart by herself

No one's there to talk or understand

Feels the sting, dries her eyes

Finds herself, opens the door and cries

~ Sugar Ray, 'Falls Apart' 

Lily glared at her reflection in the mirror. Her red hair was -just to put it in one word- yuck. Her eyes were puffy, and her nose was red. No wonder no one wanted to come near her. Although, she reasoned, that could have been because they were afraid of have timing devices chucked at them 

She grabbed some clean robes and headed into the shower, feeling more like drowning than getting wet. 

'Lily?' There was a knock on the door, and Lily suspected her friends were worried that she _would_ try to drown herself. 

'Coming.' As she left the bathroom, she glanced at the mirror, and was pleased to see that she looked halfway decent. _Clothes, Lily, can't forget clothes, _the little voice inside her head reminded her. _Oh yeah._ She pulled on some jeans and her black robes, and stepped out, tying her long hair back into a ponytail, after drying it with a spell. 

'Thought you'd never join us,' Jo said, grinning nervously, not quite sure of what to say. 

She shrugged, and almost cracked a smile when she saw Lianne watching her cautiously; obviously hoping there was nothing throwable within Lily's reach. 

'Are you coming?'

'Where?' Lily said blankly. 

'The funeral.' Jo said quietly. 

'Oh…yeah, hang on a second.' She pulled out her wand and transfigured some pencils into little daisies. 'I'm ready.' 

The four girls left silently, each aware that there were only four, and that the fifth would never join them. 

Lily never could remember much of the funeral afterwards, partly because she was crying through half of it, and partly because she spent the other half trying not to. Holly's family had also been killed by Voldemort, but her cousin, who had been on holiday with some friends, was still alive. She stood up shakily at the front of the ceremony, holding a tiny piece of paper, on which was written a poem. 

__

When I come to the end of the road

And the sun has set for me

I want no rites in a gloom filled room

Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little- but not too long

And not with your head bowed low,

Remember the love that we once shared,

Miss me- but let me go 

For this is a journey we all must take,

And each must go alone,

It's all part of the Master's plan,

A step on the road to home

When you are lonely and sick of heart

Go to the friends we know

And bury your sorrows 

In doing good deeds,

Miss me- but let me go 

Lily sniffed…_I wish mum was here_, she though fervently, which just made her cry harder. Heck, she almost wished Petunia were here. She realised what she had just thought, and for moment stopped crying, mainly because she was worried about her sanity. 

When the funeral was over, Lily walked over to James, wiping her eyes, trying to breathe save hiccupping. 

He hugged her, and ruffled her hair affectionately. 

She glared at him. 'Do not touch the hair.' James grinned, glad that almost a small bit of Lily was showing again. 

Back at Hogwarts, James pulled Lily back before she could hide in her dorm again. 'Lily, look.'

'At what?' She said dully. 

He sighed, wrapped a clock around her so she couldn't escape- or maybe because she was shaking- and they headed out the portrait again, James steering her down the corridor and out into the grounds. 

'What is it, James?' She said impatiently, not wanting to talk. 

'Holly would not have wanted you to be like this. Imagine if you died- which I seriously hope you don't- you wouldn't have wanted your friends to stop living too, wouldn't you? I mean, I haven't seen you laugh in days.'

'That's because I haven't.'

James shook her. 'Lily, stop it! I can understand you're upset- we all are, can't you see? But you have to pull yourself together!'

Lily pulled away furiously. 'Leave me alone!' She hissed. Before James could say anything else, she had run away. 

Sitting by the lake could be a very soothing thing, Lily decided, after she had sat silently by it for several hours…James hadn't even followed her. She probably wouldn't have followed him, but she refused to think about that for the moment. Lily was just wondering what she ever saw in him, when he sat down besides her. 

She ignored him. 

'Lily?'

'What?'

'Please don't hate me.'

'I don't hate you.' Why did her mouth have to be so damn quick? 

James snorted. 'Maybe you don't hate me, but you sure aren't happy, are you?'

Lily shrugged, wishing he couldn't read her mind. 

'If I manage to make you laugh, will you try to cheer up? Just for me? If I can't, I'll leave you alone.' 

'Okay.' 

James grinned, and settled down opposite her, his brown eyes glinting. 'Okay. Now obviously, Jo likes Sirius, correct?' 

Lily nodded, wondering where this was going. 'Correct.'

'Well, you should see Sirius every night. I'll give you an imitation.' He pulled the most lovesick face he possibly could, but Lily just raised her eyebrows, not even cracking a smile. 

James thought for a moment. 'Want to hear a joke?'

Lily shrugged, but James took this as a yes and continued. 'How many steps does it take to get an elephant into a refrigerator- you do know what that is, don't you?'

Lily rolled her eyes at him. 'Yes. I don't know, how many?'

'3. Open the door, put the elephants in, close the door.'

'Ingenious.'

James didn't even look the slightest bit nervous, although Lily looked like she might fall asleep at any moment. He decided to continue with the Sirius imitation, mainly because it was the easiest, and besides, it was pretty funny. He pretended to be looking in the mirror. 'James? Do you think she likes my hair like this-' James brushed his backwards- 'or like _this_? Or should I just leave it like _this_?' He scruffed his hair up. 

Lily tried to stop a small smile escape. 'He brushes his hair? For Jo?...I didn't know he owned a brush.'

'Oh, he doesn't. He just uses his fingers.' 

Lily giggled, imagining Sirius looking in the mirror doing his hair. She quickly stopped, though. 

'Ha!' James said triumphantly. 

She allowed a smile to spread across her lips. 'So you win. What do you get?'

'Well, I wasn't going to ask for anything, but as I managed to do it ever so quickly-' he grinned, very pleased with himself- and leaned over and kissed her. 

There was a loud wolf whistle from the bushes, and Sirius, Remus and Jo rolled out, each laughing. Well, Sirius was sort of laughing. He was also waiting to push James in the lake. 

Remus giggled, and looked at Sirius. 'Do you really do that?'

Sirius looked wounded. _'No_.' 

'Oh, for goodness sake, Padfoot,' James said, pulling away from Lily (finally.) 'Just kiss the girl already.' 

Jo had turned a brilliant shade of red, and made an attempt to run away. Lily laughed and ran after her, pulling her back to where Sirius was standing. 'And this comes from the two people who liked each other for a at _least_ 3 years and didn't even do anything.' Sirius muttered under his breath.

'Now kiss.' Lily instructed grinning. It all looked remarkably like a group of fourth grade kids, teasing their friends who 'secretly' had crushes on each other. 

Jo ducked and Lily chased her around the lake, laughing, sounding more alive than she had in days. 

Remus watched them with his hands on his hips, grinning. 'Well, Lily's back, Prongs.' 

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'I think he's already aware of that fact…fancy an evening dip?"

'Er- now Padfoot, you really don't want to do this,' James said, backing away. Right into the lake. 

Sirius howled with laughter, and only stopped when James had pulled his hysterical best friend in after him. 

***

Several weeks later, Lily was pretty much back to her normal self, though she still, and probably always would, felt a sting in her eyes when she passed Holly's now unoccupied bed. 

She walked down into the Common Room one evening to find Sirius, James and Remus sitting with their heads close together, whispering excitedly. Soon as she entered the room, they shut up and all looked unusually innocent. 

'What's going on?' She asked suspiciously, looking from one to other. 

'Oh, nothing.' James said with an air of a person who has a huge secret and is extremely pleased. 

'Nothing?' 

'Nothing at all,' Remus said, grinning. 

'We are not doing anything illegal that could easily result in embarrassing a certain Slytherin for the rest of their lives-' Sirius was cut off by James, who had elbowed him in the ribs. 

'Oooh.' Lily said eagerly, sitting next to Remus. 'What're we doing?'

'We?' 

'You think I'm just going to stand by while I watch you three do something worthwhile for once?'

'Are you saying that painting Mrs Norris blue is _not_ worthwhile?'

'Not counting the sparkles,' James added. 

'Course _that_ was worthwhile.' Lily said. _'I_ helped. But this- oh, this sounds _much_ better.' 

'Trust me, Kermit. This _is_ much, much better.' 

'So tell me already.'

'Okay, okay.' James glanced around; checking to make sure no one else was within hearing distance. 

'We look ridiculous,' Lily muttered, smearing black paint onto her face. 

Sirius's face was already completely covered, and he shrugged at her reflection. 'We all do. But we need to be disguised.'

'Why not wear the invisibility cloak?'

'Er- it's kind of- under repair at the moment.'

'What did you do?' Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips and smudging paint down her robes. 

'It er- just got a bit ripped. So you'd be able to see all of our legs, which would not be useful.'

'It'd be better than this,' Lily said, indicating to the mess of black all over the three of them. James had accidentally covered his glasses in paint, and crashed into the bedpost, unable to see where he was going. 

Lily sighed and rubbed them clean for him, then peered nervously out the hall, obviously scared one of the sixth years had heard them. 

'They could all sleep through hurricanes,' James reassured her. 

'Oh, great. Can we go now? It's getting really late.'

Sirius checked the mirror one last time, making sure he was completely black. He glanced at Lily, and realised something, a wide, evil grin spreading across his face. 'Lily, your hair is rather bright, don't you think?'

Lily backed away from him, holding her hair and shaking head. 'No. No way, you are not getting that_ gunk_ in my hair.'

'It'll wash out,' James said, catching her from behind. 

'No. No- no- ewww, Sirius, stop!'

He was tipping the paint over her head and mixing it into the long tangles of red, which were rapidly turning black. 

Lily raced over to the mirror and groaned. Then she turned to look at Sirius and James, who were watching her, pleased with themselves. 'If this doesn't wash out,' she said, fingering her wet hair, 'I will make sure you wake up bald one morning. Okay?'

'Yup. Come on, we're wasting time.'

They left, closing the door shut carefully behind them. 

'Are you sure this is it?' Lily whispered. 

'Shhh. Course we're sure. How do you think we got the firecrackers under his bed that time?'

'Serpent,' Sirius said quietly, and the wall swung open, revealing a large stone room, which was empty of people. 

'Quick, put the fire out,' James said, hurrying towards one staircase on his tiptoes. 

Lily waved her wand at the flames impatiently, then ran to catch up with then.

'It's this room,' James whispered, and they stepped into it silently, looking around, prepared to leap out at the first sound of life. 

'Okay.' Sirius muttered, stepping over to the end bed. 'Awww…he looks even more ugly when he's asleep. How sweet.'

Lily giggled, covering her mouth to muffle the sound. 

'Shhh.' James was rifling through Snape's trunk, searching for something. 'Ah ha! Quick, come on.' 

'Just a sec.' Sirius was drawing something with his and on Snape's face. Lily peered through the darkness at it, and saw the word 'loser' becoming darker on their enemies pale face. 

Snape sneezed. 'RUN!' Sirius hissed, which he didn't need to do, as both Lily and James had already rushed out the room, down the stairs and out the wall. 

Sirius caught up with his friends, who were dancing around in a little circle. 'Party later,' he hissed. 'The monster's awake and angry. It'll only be a moment before he thinks to come after us.'

The three of them dashed off, almost running into Remus and Madame Pomfrey, who were coming back. They hadn't realised it was that late- or rather, that early. The moon must have already gone down. Remus saw them and raised his eyebrows at the paint. He almost started laughing at Lily's hair. 

She scowled. 

'Er- I'm not feeling very well,' he said, before she could see his friends. It wasn't a lie, he definitely wasn't feeling great. Pomfrey hurried up, not wanting a seventh year- even a skinny one- to collapse on her at six in the morning. She wasn't in the mood. 

Lily grinned gratefully at him, and she, Sirius and James raced up to the common room, practically yelling the password at the Fat-Lady. She was obviously surprised, but the portrait swung ope and they fell in, laughing. 

'You could hear him screaming!' Lily said gleefully, laughing hysterically. 

Sirius and James were laughing too hard to say anything, they just leaned on each other for support and laughed till they cried. 

***

It was the day of the Quidditch Final, and the Gryffindors were all incredibly nervous, but none more so than James Potter, who wasn't sure he could walk down to the Quidditch Pitch, let alone fly. Of course, it was just nerves, as Lily soothingly pointed out, and she shoved some pieces of toast into his mouth -literally. 

James choked, and quickly sculled down some pumpkin juice, spluttering all over the table. Lily patted his back, trying to stop herself from laughing, and utterly failing. 

The Slytherins were probably even more nervous than the Gryffindors, because they were up against James, plus a fantastic team for Gryffindor all round. The Chasers were the best Gryffindor had had in years, and even Sirius wasn't as ferocious up in the air as Gryffindors beaters. The Keeper barely ever let the other team score a goal. So, all in all, they were pretty happy with the line up. And if they weren't against the Slytherins, they probably wouldn't have had a care in world. But they were and they did, so James was having extreme trouble swallowing his toast -which he hadn't even wanted to eat in the first place. 

'James, James, James.' Lily said, though she was on the edge of her seat, not wanting to be in the firing range (or spitting range) of James's pumpkin juice. 

'What?' He coughed. 

'You really should calm down.' 

He glared at her with watery eyes. 'I _am_ calm.'

Lily raised her eyebrows, but chose not to say anything. 

__

'You? You are commentator? How much did you pay McGonagall?'

Sirius looked offended. 'Well, thanks for the support.' 

Lily grinned. 'Seriously, did you pay her?'

__

'No. I just _offered_.'

'And she said yes?'

'Uh, well, no, not exactly.'

'Now why does that not surprise me?'

'I kind of offered _you_.'

Lily gaped at him. 'You _what_?' She said, when she had finally regained the ability to speak. 

'I told McGonagall that you'd do it. Hey, we need _someone_ up there, so we can get in to set it up. '

'But why me? I don't even know all the names of the players, apart from James, and I don't think they'd appreciate it if they could only hear what the Gryffindor Seeker was doing for the entire match.'

'You never know,' Sirius said, shrugging. 'They might enjoy it.'

'Can't you just do the commentary? I'll set the thing up.' 

Sirius wrinkled his nose. 'But I already said you'd do it.' 

'Well…Okay, I have an idea. We just tell McGonagall that I have laryngitis and can't talk very well-'

'What's laryngitis?'

'Don't worry about it. And so we say that _you_ do the commentary and _I_ supervise. That should be okay, right?'

Sirius didn't look convinced, but he nodded, somewhat reluctantly. 'Kay. D'you know where McGonagall is?'

'Yeah, screaming at James. He kind of 'accidentally' dropped some bugs into Snape's breakfast. He choked, and I think she was threatening to take him out the game.'

Sirius's eyes widened, but Lily didn't look particularly worried about it. 'Nah, forget it, Padfoot. She'd never take James out. You know how much she wants Gryffindor to win…lots. And you've seen the reserve Seeker, haven't you?' Lily was talking about Byron Bell, who was a fabulous Chaser but was hopeless at finding the snitch. Sirius shuddered. 'Let's just hope McGonagall's in a good mood then.'

'Why would that be, Mr Black?' Said the professor voice from behind them. 

'Er-' they both turned around. 'Well, Lily got Largitinius-'

'Laryngitis,' Lily whispered hoarsely, trying to sound like she couldn't talk. 

'Yeah, that. And she can't talk real well. But if _I_ do the commentary'

'God save us,' Lily muttered.

'Then Lily'll supervise. Pleeease?' 

Professor McGonagall was looking quite pre-occupied, and she nodded briskly. 'Yes, yes, do whatever you like, Black. Please hurry, the match starts in half an hour.'

Sirius grinned at Lily, and they raced up to the common room to grab their supplies. Then they hurried up to the commentating tower, pushing the box Lily had covered with the invisibility clock inside, puffing with exhaustion. 

Awhile later, the teams walked out onto the pitch, and Sirius was yelling into the megaphone, while Lily set up their 'experiment.' 

Lily did have to nudge Sirius several times when the Slytherins managed to score a goal, to stop him from getting _too_ carried away, but when a beater tried to knock James off his broom, the crowd heard _two_ people screaming from the Commentators box, and when Lily glanced down at the crowd, she could see McGonagall fighting through the crowd, trying to get up to them, furious with her Head Girl. Lily winced and hurried back to what she was doing before their teacher could do anything.

'And GRYFFINDOR WIN!' Sirius yelled, delighted, and he repeated this several times. 'JAMES POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH!' 

Lily shrieked and jumped around for a moment, and Sirius had to block the door way so she didn't jump out. Well, he was also keeping McGonagall out as well -Lily hadn't quite finished setting up. When she had, Sirius moved away from the door, and Professor McGonagall fell in, her face scarlet with anger. 

'You two-' she said breathlessly, too exhausted to say anything else. 

'Yes?' Lily said innocently, hiding whatever it was she'd been working on. 'I seem to have recovered…sorry 'bout that little- er- outburst. It was just that, I mean, James could've been _killed_.' She looked at McGonagall, praying she wasn't in too bad a mood. McGonagall sighed, nodded and left the room, but only after glaring at Sirius, who shrugged and grinned at her, waving goodbye. 

Both Lily and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, then set to work on the finishing touches. Lily had just blown a hole in the ceiling- all part of the plan- when James entered on his broom, grinning, his hair wind-blown from the game. 

'Is it ready?' He asked eagerly. 

'Yup!' Lily nodded, a smile identical to Sirius's on her face, and James wondered if she was possibly spending too much time with his best friend- she looked almost as evil as Padfoot at the moment.

'Okay. Once you've enlarged them -make sure they're huge- pulley them up, then run. I'll be outside. Got it?'

James and Lily nodded. 'Yeah…I don't have to _touch_ them, do I?' Lily looked disgusted, but neither boy blamed her. 

'Nah. Use these,' James handed her a pair of tongs he'd transfigured. 

Lily nodded, looking relieved. 'He does _wash_ these, doesn't he?' 

James pulled a face, and Sirius left, holding the megaphone. 'Don't got there,' he warned her. 

She looked slightly sick, but picked them up with the tongs, sticking her tongue out in disgust. 

Sirius raced down onto the Quidditch Pitch, looking up at the sky, waiting for a certain pair of boxers to appear up in the clouds. 

'Goodness me!' He yelled into the microphone, grinning. 'Is that a pair of _underwear_ I see up there?'

Half the school's population turned to look, and immediately half the school's population started laughing, pointing up at the pair of bright green boxer shorts waving in the breeze. They were huge, much, much too big for even Hagrid. 

Lily and James were already down amongst the crowd, each hysterical. 'And what is the name on them?' He said, his voice magically loudened so that everyone within 200m could hear him. 'Ah, yes, I see! Severus Snape! Mr Snape, what _are _your undiesdoing up there?' He asked the question innocently, but was laughing so hard it was rather hard to understand, but most of the school did, and the people who didn't just asked their friends, who were quite happy to enlighten them. 

Severus Snape's face was very, very red, and after yelling a few well-chosen words at his Gryffindor enemies, he rushed inside, hoping that plane-tickets to Madagascar weren't too expensive. 

Outside, the students were still enjoying the show put on by Sirius and James, who were taking turns with the commentary, and only stopped when Professor McGonagall snatched the megaphone off them, yelling something about detentions for the rest of the year. Lily, James and Sirius were laughing to hard to care, and when James received the Quidditch Cup they just got more excited. 

***

'What a way to spend the last day of the year,' Lily said, looking around at her surroundings. 

'At least we made our mark,' James answered, grinning and leaning back in his chair, only to find it couldn't cope and it crashed beneath him. 

Lily giggled and helped him up. Sirius looked wistfully out the window. 'You know, it's a good thing our last prank was so good,' he said. 'If it wasn't we'd be up here for no reason.' He grinned, relishing the memory of Snape's face when he saw his underwear waving in the breeze. 

Lily sighed. 'But we don't get to go to the feast.'

James and Sirius did look a bit dejected at this, but quickly cheered up. 'Doesn't matter. We told Remus and Jo to bring us back some food. We'll survive. We can party tonight!'

Lily nodded, but didn't look completely convinced. 'It's our last night here,' she said sadly. 

'Don't get any ideas,' Sirius warned her. 'I am not watching you and James smooch for the next two hours.'

'I wasn't thinking of doing that,' Lily said absently, and Sirius grimaced, obviously thinking of other things she could be thinking of. Lily slapped him half-heartedly, then grinned. 'Maybe we could- oh, there's nothing to _do_… McGonagall just had to swipe our wands, didn't she.' Lily said this as a statement, not a question, and put her heads in her hands, looking dejected. 

'Aw, cheer-up, Lil. Tomorrow we go home.'

'That is _not_ a cheery thought, Sirius.'

He winced. 'Oh, yeah. Petunia. Hey, you'll be a qualified witch. You can turn her into a slater if you want.' 

'Sirius, shut up. I'm feeling bored. Never try to cheer me up when I'm bored, because you're hopeless at it.'

He backed away. 'So sorry, m'lady.'

She glared at him, but was too tired to think of a comeback. 'Just think of the look on Snape's face,' Sirius said, trying one last time. 

Lily smiled a little bit, remembering. 'Yeah, it was worth it. Okay, I'll be happy…d'you think they had chicken at the feast?'

'Probably.' James's mouth was watering. 

***

On the ride home, no one could think of a good thing to say. They were all quite sad to be leaving Hogwarts, but no one really wanted to admit it. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Jo were all crammed into the same carriage, their baggage behind them and squished wherever it would fit. Lily had a game of chess sticking into her neck, and she was so close to James she might as well have been sitting on top of him.

The train pulled up, and Jo burst into tears. Sirius patted her awkwardly on the shoulder, while James lugged his trunk out into the sunshine, Lily following him. 

'So. This is it.'

'Yup.'

'You look like you're about to cry.' James said softly, looking her in the eye. 

'I am,' Lily whispered, choked up with tears. 

James hugged her, and then kissed her softly on the cheek. 

Lily grinned and looked at him, tears spilling down her cheeks. 'I'm not sad,' she said. 

'Nah, course you're not. You finally get to turn lovely ol' Petunia into a toad.'

Lily laughed, and hugged him again. She said goodbye to Sirius, said goodbye to Jo, said goodbye to Remus and all her other friends that she'd made throughout her seven years. 

Then she went through the barrier of Platform 9 and 3/4 for the last time. 

****

Epilogue

Sirius Black, age 39, sat at a desk in an old classroom that wasn't used much any more, where they were holding a meeting with Dumbledore, planning how to attack Lord Voldemort. He glanced around. Remus was watching Professor Binns discuss his plan with drooping eyelids, half-asleep. 

Sirius sighed. He could almost imagine James and Lily at this meeting. But he hadn't seen them for 15 years, and would never see them again. He scolded himself for thinking like that and turned his attention back to Binns, who certainly had not improved over the years Sirius hadn't seen him. His plan sounded remarkably like the Goblin War from 1856, almost word for word, in fact.

He looked down at the desk in front of him, reading some of the inscriptions on it, carved in by students who had no doubt been as bored as he was at the moment. 

Someone had written a poem. 

__

Do not stand by my grave and cry,

I am not there

I did not die

Weirdo 

Sirius snorted with laughter, and earned a reproving look from Arabella Figg, who was sitting in the seat next to him. He mouthed an apology and then went back to the table. 

Boring things, like _'I woz ere'_

At the bottom of the table, one thing had been etched in much more deeply than the other marking on the table, and this one had obviously been redone over time, with only the last letter of the third word not quite finished. Sirius stared at it for a long time, remembering a lesson quite like the one he was in now, where he had been so bored he hadn't had anything else to do. There, in the bottom corner of the desk, surrounded by a rather crooked love-heart, it said

__

James

Loves

Lily

A/N there are just a few things I want to say. First, thankyou to everyone who took the time to review. Secondly, there will be a sequel, as I earlier pointed out, and it'll be called 'Just as long as we're together.' (I have it all planned.)

The reason Holly died was partly because death is not something that just happens to the people we don't like. If it did, it wouldn't be such a sad thing. So she died partly because I had to make someone important die. Well, I didn't have to, but I wanted to. Evil, evil me. It was to show how bad Voldemort really is. She was also very good at divination, so Voldemort knew about that and wanted to do away with her (this information was given to him via our favourite -not- little rat) 

And so, quite a lot of words later, the end of this series. _This_ series, people. 

Please review, tell me what you like, what you didn't, etc. 

Almost everything is J.K. Rowling's, except the stuff that's mine. 


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